Unexpectedly, Zhang Yanze took the next step and went so far as to ask Shi Jingtang for Zhang Shi and openly threatened the court, "If I don't get Zhang Shi, the court will be responsible for all the unimaginable consequences! (If Yanze doesn't get Zhang Shi, accidents may happen) "
Shi Jingtang actually issued an edict obediently and handed Zhang Shi back to Zhang Yanze.
After obtaining Zhang Shi, Zhang Yanze brutally dismembered Zhang Shi. Zhang Shi had a beautiful wife. After Zhang Yanze dismembered Zhang Shi, he immediately took possession of her.
So, as mentioned above, during the Spring Festival, Zhang Shi's father Zhang Duo filed an unjust complaint against the emperor. Shi Jingtang asked Wang Zhou to replace Zhang Yanze and return to the central government. In fact, Wang Zhou was moved to Jingzhou just seven days after he was appointed as the governor of Heyang.
Zhang Yanze packed up his bed and headed eastward. When he reached Shaanzhou, he met an old subordinate, Yang Hong. When the thief failed, Zhang Yanze brutally dismembered Yang Hong.
Why was Yang Hong treated like this? Let’s start with Zhang Yanze’s other major crime.
When Zhang Yanze was in charge of Jingzhou, he sent troops without permission to attack the ethnic minority tribes in the northwest region. As a result, the entire army was wiped out. In order to make up for the losses in the battle, he forcibly confiscated more than a thousand horses from the people. During this battle, a few soldiers fled, including Yang Hong.
So Zhang Yanze dismembered Yang Hong in Shaanzhou to vent his anger.
After Wang Zhou arrived in Jingzhou, it took him about two months to collect evidence of Zhang Yanze's crimes against law and discipline. There were as many as 26 pieces of evidence that were "conclusive and ironclad". Residents within the territory fled because of his harsh and tyrannical rule. There were as many as five thousand households, and they were sorted out and reported to the court.
Shi Jingtang issued an edict to praise Wang Zhou, "Comrade Wang Zhou, thank you for your hard work." However, he did not mention Zhang Yanze, the culprit, and ignored him.
Therefore, corresponding to the above points, Zheng Yiyi, Li Tao and others successively filed a petition to impeach Zhang Yanze, demanding that he be severely punished in accordance with national laws.
At first, Shi Jingtang chose to ignore it and threw the impeachment memorial aside without replying. Unexpectedly, this group of civil servants were upright and persistent, blocking the door and asking for an explanation (Fuguqiangshu).
Under pressure, Shi Jingtang had no choice but to respond directly to the impeachment of Zhang Yanze, and ordered Zhang Yanze's official rank and title to be demoted one level each; Zhang's father Zhang Duo, brother Zhang Shouzhen, and son Zhang Xifan were all given official positions as compensation; they were given to Jingzhou The government gave 100,000 yuan to make up for the trauma of the tyranny; the Zhang family was buried lavishly, and the family property confiscated by Zhang Yanze was also returned; the people who fled Jingzhou and returned to Jingzhou to resume their business were exempted from the corvee tax for one year.
After seeing the result of the punishment, Li Tao led Yushitai and other officials to a rally outside the palace gate and knelt down to petition. He believed that such a punishment was too light, and begged the emperor to punish him severely in accordance with the law, so as to set the record straight and serve as a warning to others.
Shi Jingtang was almost bored to death, "Why do these scholars like to get into trouble? What a fool! Come on, let Li Tao come in, and I'll have a good chat with him."
The monarch and his ministers had a private meeting. Shi Jingtang spoke earnestly and said that Comrade Zhang Yanze had made great contributions to the country and was an old comrade with me, blah blah blah, which meant that he hoped the matter would end here.
Li Tao insisted on justice, knelt and kowtowed, and demanded that Zhang Yanze be punished severely.
"I'm so fucking nice to you, haven't I?" Shi Jingtang was so angry that he cursed on the spot and yelled at Li Tao, telling him to get out.
Li Tao was unyielding and held up the wat board respectfully with both hands. He remained unmoved and still demanded severe punishment for Zhang Yanze. Kill Zhang Yanze and I will get out.
Shi Jingtang was driven into panic and roared: "I have promised Zhang Yanze to spare his life." Li Tao, do you want the emperor to keep his word?
Li Tao responded sternly: "Your Majesty promised Zhang Yanze immortality, but what about Fan Yanguang's iron certificate of elixir and gold medal for immunity from death?"
Shi Jingtang was so choked that he couldn't speak for a long time. He was so angry that he shook his sleeves and left.
At this point, everyone will inevitably have questions, why does Shi Jingtang want to protect Zhang Yanze so much? Could it be that, as Shi Jingtang said, he was once his close comrade-in-arms and had achieved military exploits?
of course not. Shi Jingtang had other unspeakable secrets. He had good reasons, but it was not convenient to put them on the table: Zhang Yanze and Yang Guangyuan were related to each other. Shi Jingtang protected and tolerated Zhang Yanze because he could not afford to offend Yang Guangyuan.
Fan Yanguang of Wei Bo rebelled, Li Jinquan of Anzhou rebelled, Ancong of Xiangzhou rebelled, An Chongrong of Zhenzhou rebelled... Rebellions broke out in many places in the northwest. However, although there were many rebellions in the northwest, they were not large in scale. Basically, they are all solved by local governments, without the central government sending troops. And the Khitan father was eyeing the Central Plains, looking for excuses to invade south.
Under such circumstances, Shi Jingtang could not afford to offend Yang Guangyuan, who was heavily armed and domineering.
Zhang Yanze could not be killed, so the compensation to the families of the victims could only be increased, so an edict was issued to Zhang Shi as a posthumous gift to the Minister of Finance, Yubu Langzhong. His father, Zhang Duo, enjoyed the retirement benefits of Qinzhou Sima (as Qinzhou Sima), and his younger brother Zhang Shouzhen promoted him. He was the chief registrar of Qinghe County in Beizhou, and his son Zhang Xifan was promoted to the staff of Xingyuan Mansion.
The "Case of Zhang Yanze's Dismemberment of Zhang Shi" was concluded.
Shi Jingtang was extremely kind to Zhang Yanze. As the saying goes, it is difficult to raise a wolf as a dog to look after the house. The story of Mr. Dong Guo will appear later in the article. When the time comes, we can see how Zhang Yanze "repaid" Shi Jingtang.
Shi Jingtang was mentally and physically exhausted by the "Zhang Yanze case". In May, he "died no more," and in June, he was bedridden and unable to speak.
On June 13, the seventh year of Tianfu (942), Shi Jingtang died in Baochang Hall at the age of 51.
In August, the ministers agreed on the posthumous title: Emperor Wen Ming De Xiao and the temple name Gaozu, known as "Gaozu of the Later Jin Dynasty" in history.
Regarding Shi Jingtang's death, the Khitans claimed responsibility for the incident:
"Khitan National Chronicles": "The Liao Dynasty recruited Tuyuhun from the Jin Dynasty and sent envoys to resign him. The emperor of the Jin Dynasty was so worried that he became ill."
"History of the Liao": "In February... we sent an envoy to the Jin Dynasty to report the rebels in Tugu." Shi Jingtang was so frightened that he pissed himself. In March, he sent an envoy to Liao to greet his father. Yue, he asked Shi Chonggui to send envoys to pay tribute, and then he died.
The Khitan people felt very sorry for having frightened their good son who had just emerged in his fifties to death, so they stayed away from court for seven days and sent envoys to pay homage to him.
The mainstream view also believes that Shi Jingtang was scared to death by the Khitans. There is indeed a certain truth to it. As mentioned above, the Khitan was furious and brought up old things again. In the future, on the grounds that Jin would recruit people to surrender and accept rebels, they would send troops south again in order to control the Central Plains. Shi Jingtang was very worried about this. His death from illness was not unrelated to this. The statement that he was "scared to death by Khitan" is also logical.
Shi Jingtang's life was full of controversy. He was scolded as a "traitor" for more than a thousand years. His real infamy for a thousand years has been nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.
Is he really so miserable? What conclusion will history give him?
