Chapter 22 Chapter Five

Li Siyuan was Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty and Shi Jingtang's father-in-law.So, what does his death have to do with Shi Jingtang's recognition of the Liao emperor as his father? During the Five Dynasties, in order to win over their subordinates, it was a common practice for generals to accept the most skilled generals as godsons, so each of these emperors was a lot of godsons.When Li Siyuan died, his own son succeeded him. Unexpectedly, his godson, Li Congke, the late emperor of the later Tang Dynasty, refused to agree and rebelled, pushing Li Siyuan's own son from the throne.

Li Siyuan's own son escaped with only a few cavalrymen and went to join Shi Jingtang.After meeting Shi Jingtang, his subordinates still felt that they were the emperor's close ministers, that their master was still the emperor, and they even played tricks on Shi Jingtang, publicly accused them, and made rude words: the first emperor treated you well, married the princess to you, you belong to the first emperor Son-in-law, Li Congke, a thief, started a rebellion, yet you just sit back and ignore him, what is your intention?He scolded Shi Jingtang bloody.How could Shi Jingtang like this?You are panicked like a bereaved dog, it would be nice to come to me and give you something to eat, but you still dare to yell at me?Shi Jingtang remained calm, but Shi Jingtang's subordinates were furious, drew their swords and slaughtered all the subordinates of the troubled emperor.Shi Jingtang took a look, what did you do?Kill these people without my consent, simply, let's do it thoroughly, tie up the troubled emperor and hand it over to Li Congke, and go to him.

So Shi Jingtang tied up the troubled emperor and went to join Li Congke.He told Li Congke, look, this is the late emperor's own son. I tied him up and came to join you. You should use me again, right?Li Congke didn't dare to say anything at the time, but only said that brother-in-law, you are so clear, you did the right thing, and I appointed you as Jiedu envoy of Hedong (today's Taiyuan, Shanxi), with a heavy army in hand.Shi Jingtang was reused, but there was one thing. Li Congke named him Jiedu envoy of Hedong, but he was not allowed to return to Hedong. Why did Li Congke detain Shi Jingtang?It's easy to understand.His original surname was Wang, and he was the adopted son of the late emperor. He overthrew the late emperor's own son, and the throne came unjustly.In ancient China, each family had a surname. Li Jiangshan, your surname Wang can sit, why can't my surname Shi?I am still the real son-in-law of the late emperor, and my wife is the late emperor's own daughter, unlike you who picked it up halfway.As the Son of Heaven, Li Congke is also very helpless. He is very weak, the monarch is weak and the minister is strong, looking at each other is not pleasing to the eye, and each other has to guard against each other.To what extent is Li Congke so useless as an emperor?As soon as he became the emperor, the feudal towns under his subordinates all had the ambition to be the emperor, and they rose up to provoke trouble.The best way for the troops to provoke troubles is to raise wages.In order to win over the troops, Li Congke sold all the queen's jewelry, but it still didn't work.So Li Congke felt that this group of Jiedu Envoys was making trouble, as long as I controlled the most influential people among them, the trouble would stop.Who is most influential?Shi Jingtang!Therefore, he detained Shi Jingtang in Luoyang and prevented him from returning to Hedong.

Shi Jingtang also knew that the emperor suspected him, but he is in Luoyang now, he has no soldiers or generals, what the emperor wants to do with him, he has nothing to do.Shi Jingtang worried all day long, didn't think about tea or food, until the end of worrying, he was skinny, like a moving skeleton.Shi Jingtang's wife was very distressed, what should I do?She went to her mother, Empress Dowager Cao, and said to Empress Dowager Cao, why do you think the emperor doubts our Shi Lang so much?Our Shi Lang is loyal to the emperor and will not rebel.You go and see him, how thin he is now, you talk to the emperor, let him go.Although Li Congke was not born to Empress Dowager Cao, Empress Dowager Cao raised him as her own child. Empress Dowager Cao's plea, and Li Congke also visited Shi Jingtang's house with her own eyes, felt that he would not live for a few days, so she agreed to let him go. him.Shi Jingtang immediately returned to Hedong at the fastest speed.