The governor of Kaifeng, the mayor of the capital, seems to be a "big official", but in actual work, he is basically the aunt of the neighborhood committee and the presiding judge of the Intermediate People's Court. His daily job is to mediate neighborhood disputes, and his highlight moment is nothing more than killing a few Chen Shimei. In short, he is basically insulated from national affairs.
Sanvihan's political career was a death sentence.
Sang Weihan was disheartened. He understood that it was not that the "pro-old gang" was so powerful, but that Shi Chonggui was too suspicious of the old ministers. What he has to face is not the frame-up of one or two treacherous ministers, but a dangerous political struggle. Just being dismissed from office is already very lucky. He should go home and burn incense to thank his ancestors for their good deeds.
Therefore, Sangweihan used the excuse of recurrence of his old illness (beriberi) to refuse guests behind closed doors and no longer attended official events or private banquets of high society.
Sanvihan surrendered in full.
Liu Xu, Li Song and others complained on behalf of Sang Weihan. They went to Feng Yu and said that Sang Weihan was a veteran of two dynasties. Now that he has been relieved of his military power and dismissed as prime minister, he should be given a military town. Well, why should he be turned into a director of a sub-district office to take care of those trivial matters?
Feng Yu said coldly: "If we don't give him a military town, we are afraid that he will support himself with troops and separatist rebellion!"
Liu Xu and Li Song were dumbfounded, "How could he, an unarmed scholar, rebel?"
Feng Yukou was unscrupulous and said something treasonous and treasonous: "Even if he himself cannot rebel, he will incite others to rebel!"
The reason why it is said to be a treasonous act is because the "other person" mentioned by Feng Yu is the late emperor Shi Jingtang. In the "Hedong War", the designer and promoter of Shi Jingtang's collusion with the Khitan and the overthrow of the Later Tang Dynasty was Sang Weihan.
During the Later Jin Dynasty, Feng Yu and his party sold their offices and titles, making the politics of the Later Jin Dynasty a mess and breeding many parasites like Du Chongwei, greedily sucking the blood and sweat of the people. But if he wants to choose "the world's most greedy", Du Chongwei has to give up the top spot to the richest man in the country during the Shi Chonggui period of the later Jin Dynasty, named Zhao Zaili.
Zhao Zaili can be said to be the ancestor of the Later Jin Dynasty. In the last years of Li Cunxu (926), there was a mutiny in Beizhou. Sergeant Huangfu Hui put a knife on his neck and forced officer Zhao Zaili to become the leader of the rebels. The rebel army set out from Beizhou and occupied Weizhou. Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to quell the rebellion, so "Mingzong entered Wei", and then "Mingzong entered Luo".
Without Zhao Zaili, there would be no Li Siyuan; without Li Siyuan, there would be no Shi Jingtang. Therefore, Zhao Zaili is the ancestor of the Later Jin Dynasty.
Since Li Siyuan, Zhao Zaili has received a large number of rewards. In the past twenty years, he has visited more than a dozen vassal towns such as Cangzhou, Xuzhou, and Chang'an. Moreover, he is shrewd and scheming. On the one hand, he plunders the people's wealth through extortionate expropriation. On the other hand, they invest in business and use their official background to make huge profits. He also continued to bribe those in power, which was his magic weapon for twenty years.
Now, during Shi Chonggui's period, Zhao Zaili's wealth has become the richest man in the country. Even Shi Chonggui coveted his wealth.
Shi Chonggui and Zhao Zaili became in-laws, and allowed the prince Shi Yanxu to marry Zhao Zaili's daughter. Shi Yanxu and Shi Yanbao were actually Shi Jingtang's grandsons and Shi Chonggui's nephews. However, Shi Chonggui followed Shi Jingtang's example and regarded these nephews as his own sons.
Zhao Zaili was famous for his exorbitant taxation, and he also left an idiom in Chinese culture - "a thorn in the side". According to records, when Zhao Zaili was in charge of Songzhou, he imposed excessive taxes and made the people resentful. Later, the court moved him to another place. When the people of Songzhou heard about it, they were overjoyed and said that this man was finally gone, just like pulling out a nail in his eye. So cool. After Zhao Zaili heard about it, he immediately went to the court and asked to stay in Songzhou for one more year. Then he levied a "nail-pulling tax" in Songzhou, which was imposed on a per capita basis. Those who could not pay were punished with severe punishments.
His aunt Du Chongwei was corrupt and preyed on the people, but Shi Chonggui ignored him and tolerated him. Zhao Zaili, the richest man in the country and a veteran of the Later Tang Dynasty, exploited the people, but Shi Chonggui became a good friend of the Qin and Jin Dynasties, each getting what they needed.
Isn't it illegal to take bribes and embezzlement during the later Jin Dynasty? Sense of justice, arrangement:
From the end of the second year of Kaiyun (945) to the beginning of the third year of Kaiyun (946), Shi Chonggui launched a series of crackdowns on corruption among officials:
In November of the second year of Kaiyun, Li Jun, the governor of Shangzhou, was dismissed on charges of accepting bribes and "taking money and violating the law";
In the first month of the third year of good fortune,
Wang Weici, a member of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, committed suicide on the charge of misappropriating public funds and "seeking profit for his own business using palace money";
Li Zhisheng, the doctor in the right department, was demoted from the court and left immediately (Chiyi sent him). He was charged with eating, drinking and traveling at public expense;
Yang Yanshou, the "Second Queen" and Duke of the Kingdom of Wu, was sentenced to death at the first trial just for accepting bribes of more than 200 pieces of silk. Later, some departments interceded, saying that for the sake of the "Second Queen", the death penalty should not be used, so the second trial was changed to exile. "Two Kings and Three Kes" was one of Shi Jingtang's measures at the beginning of the founding of the country, as mentioned above.
Some people use this to evaluate Shi Chonggui, saying that he hates evil as much as he hates corrupt officials and cracks down hard on official corruption...
Shi Chonggui only swatted flies, not tigers, in his fight against corruption. Small civil servants who use public funds to eat and drink must be severely punished, but the feudal officials exploit and embezzle the money and food of millions of disaster victims without asking any questions.
Feng Yu and other "pro-old gangs" began to gain power in the second year of Kaiyun (945). Sang Weihan was squeezed out of the court in this year, and the pretentious "hard crackdown" was also launched in this year... Changes In other words, Shi Chonggui changed his character in this year. On the timeline, this year is a dividing line. From this year on, Shi Chonggui exudes an increasingly strong aura of a subjugated king.
Why is it this year?
Because this year, the Later Jin Dynasty had just won two battles, breaking the myth that the Khitan cavalry could not defeat it. You must know that the troops Yelv Deguang invested in these two major battles were almost all the elites of the Khitan, and he led all the troops from the country to the south. This was a treatment that even Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan did not enjoy.
The victory dazzled Shi Chonggui, causing him to have the illusion that the Khitan was no good and that all reactionaries were paper tigers.
As a result, Shi Chonggui began to become willful, began to do whatever he wanted, and began to let himself go. He has gone from the state of "conquering the world" to the state of "taking over the country".
When conquering the world, you need to listen to unfavorable advice and unite all the forces that can be united. Everything is oriented to the final result. Regardless of political factions and power affiliations, as long as you can make a contribution to the country, you are a good comrade; At that time, it must be process-oriented. Patriotism is not important, but loyalty to the emperor is important. You may not contribute to the country, or you may even harm the interests of the country and the people, but - you must be loyal to me.
