Liu Zhiyuan is most criticized for his ruthlessness and dishonesty. The most convincing example is the suppression of Weizhou Du Chongwei. First, they massacred 1,500 Youzhou soldiers who had surrendered in Bianzhou, and then, despite promising to pardon Zhang Lian in the form of a red-headed document, they still killed all the surrendered Zhang Lian and his subordinates, and the real culprit was The culprit, the rebel Du Chongwei, was pardoned.
Sima Guang commented on this matter in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", saying that Fan Tai's execution was unkind; killing Zhang Lian was unfaithful; and pardoning Du Chongwei was "non-punishment".
"Benevolence is used to unite the people, trust is used to carry out orders, and punishment is used to punish traitors. If you lose these three, how can you defend the country? It's good that it will not delay the luck of the country!" The most hateful thing is the last half of the sentence. The fate of the country in the Later Han Dynasty will not last long. You deserve to perish soon!
"Old History of the Five Dynasties" is relatively subtle and euphemistic, and the final conclusion of Liu Zhiyuan's coffin is: "Although he has the reputation of being lucky, he has no virtue as a king."
Translated, it’s even more irritating than Sima Guang’s sentence “You deserve it”: I gave you a chance, but you’re useless!
Whether it is "Old History of the Five Dynasties", "New History of the Five Dynasties" or "Zizhi Tongjian", they were all written during the Northern Song Dynasty. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin's "Chenqiao Mutiny" took away the power of the Chai family in the later Zhou Dynasty. Out of guilt for the Chai family, Taizu made a legacy: treat the descendants of the Chai family favorably. Therefore, in "Water Margin", which describes the peasant uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty, Chai Jincai, the "little whirlwind", became a national shelter for troubled children.
Therefore, although the Song Dynasty robbed the Chai family of its foundation, unlike most dynasty changes, the Northern Song Dynasty not only did not discredit or deny the Later Zhou Dynasty, but was full of gratitude and guilt for it.
The Chai family inherited the mantle of the founding emperor Guo Wei, who was Liu Zhiyuan's direct confidant and trusted minister. But Guo Wei did not directly take over the throne from Liu Zhiyuan, but there was Liu Chengyou in the middle, knocking on the blackboard and drawing the key points: Liu Chengyou killed Guo Wei's whole family.
There was a deep hatred between Guo Wei and Liu Chengyou and the Later Han regime that he represented, which killed his entire family.
The relationship is clear: the Song Dynasty was grateful to the Later Zhou Dynasty, and the Later Zhou Dynasty had a deep hatred for the Later Han Dynasty. Therefore, the attitude of the Song Dynasty towards the Later Han Dynasty cannot be said to be hatred, at least it is definitely not admiration. This attitude determined that the historians of the Song Dynasty could be straightforward when dealing with Liu Zhiyuan's flaws.
Liu Zhiyuan passed away, leaving a mess to his successor Liu Chengyou. In fact, this can no longer be regarded as a mess. It should be said that there is no mess at all, only mess. If Liu Zhiyuan started in hell mode, then Liu Chengyou started in the basement of hell.
The external manifestations of the difficult situation of the Later Han Dynasty were internal and external troubles. The fundamental reason for this situation was that it grew too fast. Typical of the political upstarts, the Liu family of the Later Han Dynasty was extremely lacking in experience. When they suddenly rose to a high position, whether they were emperor or ministers, they were no longer in power for a while. Unable to accurately adapt to his new role.
The king is not like the king, and the minister is not like the minister.
It is precisely because of this sudden change of roles that there has been serious internal friction in the process of redistributing interests. Although the Later Han Dynasty faced many internal and external troubles, what ultimately led to its demise was the internal strife from the group and within. This is the most lamentable. The fortress was eventually breached from within.
Below, we will take a look at the whole process of the collapse of the Later Han Dynasty. First, welcome to Liu Chengyou’s hell basement:
It was too easy for the Liu Group of the Later Han Dynasty to gain power. Only Shi Hongzhao led the vanguard troops and made two gestures in Luzhou and Zezhou. Liu Zhiyuan successfully entered Bianzhou. In the subsequent battle of Weizhou, the Khitan took the initiative to retreat due to internal problems. . Liu Zhiyuan's process of winning the world was basically similar to Li Congke's.
But Li Congke was the adopted son of the late emperor after all, while Liu Zhiyuan had no blood relationship with the late emperor.
In other words, the problems faced by the Liu Group in the Later Han Dynasty should be more difficult than those faced by Li Congke in the Later Tang Dynasty. But on this basis, Liu Zhiyuan died in a hurry and the 18-year-old Liu Chengyou came to the throne. All parties are even less convinced by Liu Chengyou's fault. So Liu Chengyou's predicament worsened.
In order to help Liu Chengyou suppress his power, Su Fengji, Yang Bin and others did not announce the funeral secretly after Liu Zhiyuan's death. Instead, they first forged an edict to kill Du Chongwei to eliminate a serious problem for the empire, and then forged an edict to make Liu Chengyou King of Zhou, and then announced the death of the late emperor. , and asked Liu Chengyou to ascend the throne in front of his coffin.
According to them, at the end of last year, the late emperor planned to change the Yuan Dynasty, so he sought the opinions of ministers, and Zhongshu Sheng finally drafted a year name of "Qianhe", which means heaven, earth and harmony. As a result, the late emperor mentioned the imperial pen, and Zhu Pi changed it to "Qianyou". So it is obvious that the world belongs to my son Liu Chengyou.
Because the father dies, the son must observe filial piety, so the new emperor usually only ascends the throne, but cannot immediately take charge. However, it is impossible for the new emperor to observe filial piety for two or three years like ordinary ministers, so people invented a rule: the emperor observes filial piety for one year, and some say one day is equal to one month. In other words, in as little as two or three days, or as much as a month, the new emperor can start working.
A few days later, the officials came to the table and implored Liu Chengyou to take charge of the government. As usual, the edict refused. Then the ministers "all four came to the table", and Liu Chengyou "followed".
Liu Chengyou met with the ministers, then honored his mother as the Queen Mother, and then began to deal with the affairs of the court.
In order to win support and recognition, both Liu Zhiyuan and Liu Chengyou adhered to the policy of universal benefits and benefited from both. A large part of the "Benji" of the two emperors was dedicated to recording the rewards for various vassals and towns in the world.
When Liu Chengyou ascended the throne as the new emperor, he paid tribute to the emperor's relatives such as Liu Xin, Liu Chong, Murong Yanchao, etc.; to the founding fathers such as Shi Hongzhao, Guo Congyi, Dou Zhengu, etc.; to the meritorious service of the previous dynasty such as Gao Xingzhou and An Shenqi. , Fu Yanqing, etc.; even the "dangerous elements" of the previous dynasty such as Li Shouzhen, Li Yiyin, etc.; and the "Jiujie Sect" personnel such as Wu Xingde, Xue Huairang, etc.... all were promoted to official positions.
When the new emperor ascends the throne, all civil and military officials at all levels, as well as frontier officials, are generally promoted to higher positions. This is considered a normal operation and is understandable. But soon after, the indiscriminate rewards given to the whole world because of one person's meritorious service became truly jaw-dropping. This bizarre and unbelievable act will be described in detail later.
Internal rebellion and invasion by external forces were not fatal threats to the Later Han Dynasty. Liu Chengyou lacks direct relatives, and this is the core problem.
Su Fengji, Su Yugui, Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, and Guo Wei are all direct descendants of Liu Zhiyuan from Hedong. The 18-year-old Liu Chengyou has neither military combat experience nor work experience as a local official. Whether it is experience or network resources, Liu Chengyou is extremely powerful. What is lacking, and this is the foundation that team leaders need most.
Once the emperor and his ministers, the above-mentioned people were the direct descendants of Liu Zhiyuan, but not the direct descendants of Liu Chengyou.
