Chapter 41 The Empress Dowager who is greedy for money

Before Li Cunxu ascended the throne, in order to avenge his father, he went south and north to fight. The stability of the rear was a very important issue, so he entrusted all of them to his father's veteran Zhang Chengye.Zhang Chengye was originally an eunuch in charge of the army sent by the Tang Dynasty to Jin Wang Li Keyong, but he was honest and talented, and he got along very well with Li Keyong.Zhu Wen usurped Tang to stand on his own, Li Keyong played the banner of revenge for Tang, refused to proclaim himself emperor, and was still the king of Jin in Tang Dynasty, which made Zhang Chengye, who was loyal to Tang, more grateful, and expressed his gratitude to Li Keyong and his son Also work harder.When Li Cunxu first came to the throne, his uncle Li Kening had different ambitions, and it was with the help of Zhang Chengye that he killed him.Therefore, Li Cunxu respected Zhang Chengye very much and called him "Seventh Brother".When Li Cunxu went out to fight, Zhang Chengye presided over internal affairs, recruited soldiers and bought horses to support the front line, recruited refugees to produce and farm, collected food and grass to supplement military use, and managed the rear of Hedong in an orderly manner.

Zhang Chengye is honest and upright, with a clear distinction between public and private, and never uses the power in his hands to seek personal gain for himself. He also rejects all unreasonable demands from Li Cunxu's cronies, even Li Cunxu himself.Li Cunxu sometimes went back to Taiyuan to visit his mother when he was away from the war. Those around him asked him for rewards, so he asked Zhang Chengye for money, but Zhang Chengye refused to give him more.Li Cunxu couldn't help it, so he made a plan. He held a banquet in the treasury for Zhang Chengye, and asked his son Li Jiji to perform songs and dances for Zhang Chengye during the banquet.Zhang Chengye gave him a jade belt and a horse as a "head wrap", Li Cunxu said: "These are not worth much. Seventh brother should give him more money in the treasury." But Zhang Chengye said: "Lang Jun sang and danced for me. Chengye has already Take out your own salary and pay it back. But these are the property of the state treasury, and they are used to support the three armies in combat, so I dare not use public property as a personal gift and give it to others casually." Li Cunxu was very unhappy, and scolded him with the strength of wine, but But Zhang Chengye always insisted on his opinion, and Li Cunxu was helpless.Later Li Cunxu's mother, Empress Dowager Cao, heard about this and personally led Li Cunxu to Zhang Chengye's mansion to apologize.In this way, with Zhang Chengye in charge of political affairs, Li Cunxu received a steady stream of military and food support, so he had no worries about the future and could concentrate on dealing with the latter.So later the history books said: "Cheng is the overlord, and the loyalty of inheriting the industry."

Zhang Chengye devoted himself to the cause of the Li family and his son with the intention of reviving the Tang Dynasty.Therefore, when Li Cunxu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he was very surprised and went to question him regardless of his illness.Li Cunxu also felt a little embarrassed, so he faltered and said that this was what the soldiers meant.Zhang Chengye was so sad that he died of illness soon after.And Li Cunxu didn't have this old official watching him, so naturally no one cared about his spending money, and his greedy nature was greatly exposed. In order to collect a lot of money, he reused the corrupt official Kong Qian as his envoy.Kong Qian squandered in order to collect people's wealth and enshrine him, so he bypassed the generals of the feudal towns and directly ordered to go to the prefectures and counties to urge the payment of taxes.Although some feudal towns impeached Kong Qian for violating the imperial system, Li Cunxu issued an edict expressing to act in accordance with the system, and on the other hand condoned and condoned Kong Qian, causing him to impose excessive taxes and severely lose the hearts of the people.The emperor indulged Kong Qian, and other officials followed suit, intensifying exploitation layer by layer, causing the people to go into exile and the soldiers to starve and suffer from cold.Li Cunxu also listened to the eunuch's advice and divided the country's wealth into internal and external treasuries, and the money dedicated to prefectures and counties was included in the external treasury to serve as military and political expenses.The money contributed by the feudal towns was sent to the inner treasury for banquets, entertainment, and rewards for actors. In the end, the outer treasury often dried up and the funds were tight, while the money in the inner treasury piled up like a mountain.When the people suffered from floods and droughts and the people were struggling to survive, some ministers requested the abolition of local exorbitant taxes in order to win the hearts of the people. However, Li Cunxu still did not restrain himself in extravagance and pleasure. Instead, he collected Henan's second year's taxes in advance for his own enjoyment.He made great efforts to build a magnificent palace, and asked actor Jing Jin and others to seek beauties to contribute to satisfy his licentious life.

Li Cunxu amasses greedy money like this, but his wife Empress Liu is also fueling the flames.This Empress Liu is the Liu family who denied her biological father for the sake of wealth and honor.She was originally a girl from a small family, but was robbed during the war and became the maid of Li Cunxu's mother, Empress Dowager Cao, who later gave her to Li Cunxu as a concubine.She is outstanding in appearance, good at singing and dancing, and is very favored by Li Cunxu. In addition, she gave birth to his eldest son Li Jiji. After Li Cunxu ascended the throne, he made her the queen.Mrs. Liu was originally a person who was greedy for wealth and honor. In order to be a queen, she even refused to recognize her own father.When she became a queen, she was even more greedy. Instead, she recognized the minister Zhang Quanyi as her adoptive father.Zhang Quanyi was originally a descendant of the Later Liang Dynasty, and he was born in a wealthy family. Li Cunxu often took Empress Liu to his house for drinking and having fun.Zhang Quanyi also served very thoughtfully every time, not only filled the banquet with delicious food, wine and delicacies, but also often presented jewelry and jade.Empress Liu expressed to Li Cunxu that she wanted to recognize him as a adoptive father, and Li Cunxu agreed on the spot. Zhang Quanyi refused to miss this opportunity. With the support of Empress Liu, a righteous daughter, he fundamentally preserved his power and wealth.From then on, every festival would order people to send expensive gifts to the palace for Empress Liu, and Empress Liu would have another way to make money.Seeing this, the feudal towns everywhere also flattered Empress Liu in order to consolidate their power. Every time they donated property to the court, they had to prepare two copies, and one was dedicated to Empress Liu.

Although Li Cunxu is greedy for money, Empress Liu is still better than him.Although there are various ways to make money, plus the large amount of money looted from the inner treasury, it is still not enough for her to spend.In order to collect more money more directly, she also sent people to sell goods and profit from them. In order to sell more goods, she even sold dried and fresh fruits under her own name. She is very brand conscious and knows how to use celebrity effects.It's just that the queen, as the mother of a country, is so diligent in seeking profit, which is really outrageous.The empress is so greedy for money, naturally she will not dissuade Li Cunxu from collecting money. Instead, she is happy to sit back and enjoy the benefits, and regards the state treasury as her own, and refuses to contribute a little to meet the urgent needs of the country.When the soldiers complained about the lack of food and pay, the prime minister had no choice but to beg for some money from the inner treasury to reward the soldiers to relieve their urgent needs, and to make up for it in the future.Empress Liu's face changed drastically when she heard this, and she went back to the house and took out two silver basins for daily use, and led the three princes out, saying that there was no money left in the palace, so let him sell them for rewards Soldiers.Being so unruly, the prime minister had no choice but to leave.

Li Cunxu and Empress Liu's greed for money and perverse actions finally led to the outbreak of the crisis.The soldiers sold their wives and children because of lack of food, or went to the mountains to dig wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, but some of them often died of starvation on the way.Complaints abounded in the army, coupled with the fact that the heroes and veterans were mistrusted and killed one after another, the crisis of the country became more and more serious, and these two were still dreaming of life and death in the eyes of money, not knowing their fate.It wasn't until the war was imminent that Li Cunxu thought of rewarding the soldiers with money and making them work for him, but the soldiers carried the money and things, and they didn't feel grateful at all. Instead, they cursed: "Our wives and children have starved to death. !” He humbly begged the soldiers to escort him, and promised a big reward, but the soldiers said, “Your Majesty’s reward is too late, and we are not grateful for the grace!” Later, when Li Cunxu died in the rebellion, Empress Liu did not go to visit him, but instead packed up the gold and silver. He and Li Cunxu's younger brother Li Cunwo escaped from the palace gate under the protection of cavalry, thinking of Jinyang to escape temporarily.In order to seek protection on the road, he actually committed adultery with Li Cunwo.When she arrived at Jinyang City, but because she was always greedy and did not care for the soldiers, the guards refused to open the city gate to take her in.Li Cunwo was later killed by his subordinates, and Empress Liu had no choice but to become a nun.Later Mingzong Li Siyuan learned of this, and he did not let the former empress who had wronged the country go, and sent someone to make her commit suicide.