3. Destroying seedlings and encouraging growth
The "Party of the First Emperor" was manipulated by Xu Zhigao. However, the princelings in the East Palace sprung up and became increasingly rampant.
Xu Zhigao's emphasis on talents can be said to be at its peak. As early as when he was the governor of Shengzhou, he built the "Yanbin Pavilion" and recruited conspirators like Song Qiqiu. When he regained power in Shengzhou, he also built the "Li Pavilion". "Xian Yuan" has attracted cultural celebrities such as Sun Sheng and Chen Jue. Xu Zhigao's respect for intellectuals was rooted in the genetic genes of the Southern Tang Dynasty, which made the literary style of the Southern Tang Dynasty popular, leaving us with a famous poet who subjugated the country - Li Yu, the late leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
The scheming Song Qiqiu took a liking to Chen Jue at a glance. The two had a mutual affinity and sympathy, so they secretly formed a political alliance and each got what they needed.
When Xu Zhigao was about to abolish the eldest son and establish a young son, and pass the throne to his second son Li Jingqian, Song Qiqiu recommended Chen Jue to Xu Zhigao and asked Chen Jue to serve as Li Jingqian's number one adviser. To this end, Xu Zhigao also personally found During the conversation, Chen Jue compared Li Jingqian to himself and Chen Jue to Song Qiqiu, expressing the hope that he could assist his young master like Song Qiqiu assisted him. At the end of the conversation, Xu Zhigao did not forget to warn him, saying that although Song Qiqiu was talented, his political stance was problematic, and you should take this as a warning!
Relying on the strong care of Song Qiqiu, a prominent figure in the political arena of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Chen Jue quickly rose to prominence, entered the core power circle, and became Song Qiqiu's most successful political investment.
Song Qiqiu's nose was right, and Chen Jue was no less sinister and vicious than Song Qiqiu. Chen Jue single-handedly concocted the "Chu Rengui Framed Case" known as "the first unjust case in the Southern Tang Dynasty".
After Xu Zhigao usurped power, he finally settled the Yang family in Taizhou. Taizhou City became the number one political prison in Huainan, and the warden of this prison was Chu Rengui, the governor of Taizhou.
Chu Rengui understood his master's intention very well and rebuilt the inner city of Taizhou. His purpose of building the city was not for national infrastructure, but to make the prison unbreakable and ensure that the Yang family would not escape. He was also highly praised by Xu Zhigao for this.
Chen Jue's brother lived in Taizhou. He was sentenced to caning by Chu Rengui for breaking the law, which angered Chen Jue. Therefore, Chen Jue impeached Chu Rengui for corruption, bending the law, taking bribes, etc., and instigated the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (Servant). Censor) Wang Zhonglian went to the court together to impeach him.
Because Xu Zhigao was grateful for Chu Rengui's old achievements, he finally just dismissed him from office. Chu Rengui was quite dissatisfied and appealed to the emperor. According to records, his letter contained strong words and was disrespectful to the emperor and ministers. This angered Xu Zhigao, so he sent Chen Jue to Taizhou to investigate in detail.
This wave of operations is very thought-provoking. Chen Jue was the first person to accuse Chu Rengui, but the organization chose Chen Jue to be the leader of the task force. Chu Rengui understood, so he hurriedly confessed to all the charges, and was eventually ordered to die by Xu Zhigao.
This case may seem simple, but actually there is a political struggle behind it that is easily overlooked.
According to historical records, Chu Rengui did a lot of good things during his tenure in Taizhou, and his work ability was very outstanding. Therefore, on December 15, 937 AD, the Nanwu regime upgraded Hailing County under Yangzhou to Taizhou and divided it. Taixing, Yancheng and other four counties were placed under it, and then Chu Rengui was promoted to be the first governor of Taizhou.
As for the "bad things" done by Chu Rengui, historical materials only record two cases, including Chen Jue's brother, to illustrate that Chu Rengui, who was a soldier, implemented harsh punishments. However, upon closer inspection, it turns out that the so-called “victims” in both cases were criminals who committed crimes and should be punished. Moreover, the intensity of punishment cannot be regarded as "harsh punishment". For example, Chen Jue's brother was sentenced to flogging, which was the lowest punishment among the five punishments of "flogging to death".
The so-called "corruption" issue is even more maliciously framed by Chen Jue.
Chen Jue is as sinister and vicious as Song Qiqiu. He first created rumors, manipulated public opinion, and set the pace. He created a large number of literary and artistic works to "expose" the corruption in Taizhou officialdom. For example, one of his poems goes "If you ask for more money, you will be ignorant." ", and take the first yellow in the world", "Nangbai" refers to silver, and "the first yellow" is gold, alluding to Chu Rengui's corruption and bribery.
There were thousands of similar poems and songs that were made out of nothing. Chen Jue secretly sent people to post and distribute them in the streets and alleys. They spread all over Yangzhou City's bus stops, public toilets, and telephone poles almost overnight... (Wherever Wrote thousands of pieces and went to Jinling to paste them, and the matter was heard by the public)
When this incident alarmed Xu Zhigao, Chen Juecai issued an impeachment memorial, saying that Chu Rengui was too outrageous, which caused public resentment to boil... At the same time, Wang Zhonglian, the imperial censor, assisted.
Seeing this, we can't help but feel chills on our backs. Chen Jue is really a terrifying existence, a cunning, cruel and scheming bitch. However, Chen Jue is really not the real mastermind behind the scenes.
The truth behind this case is Xu Zhigao's line struggle.
Xu Zhigao emphasized civilian officials and deliberately suppressed military generals. Chu Rengui happened to be a military general in an important town, so Xu Zhigao kept praising him, but in fact he was always suspicious of him in his heart.
As mentioned earlier, Xu Zhigao built an efficient intelligence system. Authoritative history books say that he was omniscient and knowledgeable in Huainan. He could even see into the three meals of the eunuchs when they were on business trips. Could it be that he still couldn't see through Chen Jue's campaign to launch a navy and manipulate public opinion? , a trick to mess with the rhythm?
So what is horrifying to think about is that Xu Zhigao knew that this was Chen Jue's trick, but he happened to need this kind of trick, so he pretended to be confused and angry. We see that the result of his "anger" was just to remove Chu Rengui from office. This was Xu Zhigao's goal. Military generals need to be suppressed, but they do not need to be physically destroyed.
At this point, in theory, Xu Zhigao and Chen Jue have finished the play in tacit understanding. It's a pity that the actors in the play returned temporarily to add extra scenes for themselves.
Chu Rengui protested in a sparse manner, and his words were fierce. Historical records record that his memorial was "bold and unscrupulous" and "quite unreasonable and disobedient, and there was almost no distinction between monarch and minister." This moment directly stimulated Xu Zhigao's most sensitive nerve. Wu Fu was indeed in danger! Chu Rengui completely sought his own death. Therefore, Xu Zhigao asked Chen Jue to take the lead in the investigation with ulterior motives, and finally had Chu Rengui killed.
The reason why "Chu Rengui was falsely accused" is called "the first unjust case in the Southern Tang Dynasty" is because of the double hidden political conspiracy behind it. In front of the old ghost Xu Zhigao, Chen Jue was just a younger brother, and Chu Rengui was The political victim of immobile politics.
Other:
1. In the records of this case, there are many contradictions in the history books. Modern scholar Mr. Shao Qifeng made a detailed research in "A Brief Study of the Life of Taizhou Governor Chu Rengui" published in "Soochow Academic" (Issue 6, 2018). There are also many mistakes in the above article. First of all, I would like to pay my respects to Mr. Shao Qifeng, and secondly...it seems that this book is well-referenced.
2. Some historical materials (such as "Book of the Southern Tang Dynasty" compiled by Lu You) say that Li Jing "minimized his crime and stopped the governor" and finally sentenced Chu Rengui to death. This is actually wrong. You Shen mistakenly regarded Xu Zhigao as Li Jing, it was Xu Zhigao (Liezu), not Li Jing (Yuanzong), who actually dismissed Chu Rengui first and then sentenced him to death.
Although to a certain extent, the big boss behind this case is Xu Zhigao, it does not affect Chen Jue's exposure of his insidiousness. Some history books regard this case as the first year of Chen Jue's attempt to gain power, and "this is the beginning of Chen Jue's attempt to steal authority."
Song Qiqiu ambush Chen Jue next to Li Jingqian, and at the same time ambush his cousin Li Zhenggu with Li Jingda. In addition, Wei Cen, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu, etc. were all Song Qiqiu party members. Among them, Feng Yansi was Xu Zhigao was appointed as Li Jing's chief staff officer.
Feng Yansi, Chen Jue, and Song Qiqiu worked together to form a secret political interest group that could not be eliminated.
Li Jing noticed that Feng Yansi had bad behavior, but he was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river and could not protect himself, so he was unable to get rid of him.
Later, upright civil servants such as Sun Sheng and Xiao Yan kept reminding Xu Zhigao that brothers Chen Jue, Wei Cen, Feng Yansi and others were the party members of Song Qiqiu. They were colluding and must be eliminated to avoid future troubles.
At first, Xu Zhigao didn't take it seriously, because in his opinion, martial artists were the ones who should be targeted. What kind of trouble could a few penniless scholars create? When he finally woke up, it was too late.
Xu Zhigao realized that although Song Qiqiu was sent to Hongzhou, his influence in the central government had exceeded his imagination. The cunning Song Qiqiu had already woven an intricate web of interests, which was difficult to shake for a while. Moreover, Song Qiqiu was an opponent of the crown prince Li Jing, and Song Qiqiu's small gang posed a huge threat to Li Jing.
Therefore, Xu Zhigao adjusted the focus of his work to suppressing the "princelings" and wanted to clean up the Song Qiqiu party members who were entrenched and lurking around Li Jing. However, history did not give him a chance, because Xu Zhigao only woke up in February 943 AD. Before he could take action, he was already seriously ill and died immediately.
Xu Zhigao did not have time to clean up the "princelings" and laid a fatal foundation for the Southern Tang Dynasty.
