Chapter 9 2. Death of the Two Kings

In the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, turbulent political struggles and capricious mutinies completely shattered the order of the dynasty and the mutual trust between monarchs and ministers.It seems to be a nightmarish rule that the country kills heroes according to rough rules.Guo Wei also failed to break this rule. In the process of making great efforts in the next week, with the passage of time and the changes in people's hearts, healthy social relationships are actively appearing, but another negative relationship is also secretly growing.The conflict between the emperor and his ministers is intensifying, testing the empire's political system and the trust and confidence between the emperor and his ministers.

Trust and cooperation between monarchs and ministers is very important. Suspicions and conflicts between monarchs and ministers are common. One of the necessary conditions for the so-called talented and broad-minded emperor, the so-called capable ministers who govern the country, is to properly handle the contradictions between the monarch and his ministers. In December 952 AD, the Yellow River burst in Huazhou, Henan, and the river flooded.In the following ten years, according to historical records, the Yellow River frequently flooded.It is not known whether this phenomenon was caused by the long-term disrepair of the embankment due to the war, or because of the abundant water in the river.The reason is unknown, but the disaster caused by the frequent flooding of the Yellow River is serious.Due to the severity of the disaster, Zhou Taizu Guo Wei sent an imperial envoy Qi Zangzhen to the scene to deal with the flood. However, the imperial envoy was negligent and irresponsible, not only failed to control the breach, but also caused the flood to expand.The disaster is spreading and the common people are suffering. Guo Wei is worried about this.The privy envoy Wang Jun took the initiative to ask for orders, went to supervise in person, investigated and studied the plan to control the disaster of the Yellow River, and supervised the civilian work of Hefu.

Not only did Qi Zangzhen dereliction of duty in the river management this time, he committed another crime a few years later, and was finally beheaded by the court of the Later Zhou Dynasty. The Zhenning Jiedu envoy, the prince Chai Rong, was away for a long time, and asked to visit relatives in the court, to report to the emperor on work, to talk about thoughts, to chat about family affairs, and to exchange feelings.Chai Rong also brought a man with him when he entered the court. This man was once Li Shouzhen's cavalry general, and his name was Ma Quanyi.A few years ago, Guo Wei was sent by Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty, to fight the rebellion in Hezhong, and Ma Quanyi was in Li Shouzhen's army.Ma Quanyi fought bravely and caused heavy damage to the officers and soldiers many times.After the defeat of the San Francisco, Ma Quanyi was recruited by Guo Wei and subordinated to Chai Rong's army.

When Chai Rong entered Beijing this time, he was summoned by Emperor Guo Wei, and the father and son had a pleasant meeting.Guo Wei also took special care of Chai Rong's follower Ma Quanyi.Guo Wei recommended Ma Quanyi to the people around him, and praised Ma Quanyi for his dedication to duty and bravery in battle, which is worthy of learning by his courtiers.After praising Ma Quanyi, Guo Wei promoted Ma Quanyi to be the commander in front of the temple.This position does not seem to have existed in previous dynasties. It was the first time Guo Wei established a position and bestowed this position on Ma Quanyi.

It was originally a reasonable and common thing for Chai Rong to visit relatives in Mianjun, Beijing. Chai Rong's entry into Beijing aroused vigilance and dissatisfaction from one person, and that person was Wang Jun. Chai Rong is talented and heroic, but his relationship with Wang Jun has never been good.Wang Jun was very jealous of the prince.Just like An Zhonghui, the chief minister of the later Tang Dynasty, who rejected Li Congke, the beloved son of Mingzong Li Siyuan, Wang Jun kept Chai Rong from getting close to Emperor Guo Wei.From the analysis of the development of things later, Wang Jun's exclusion of Chai Rong was mainly out of jealousy.He wanted to firmly occupy the position of the first minister under the emperor.Guo Wei was well aware of this situation, and in order to avoid provoking Wang Jun, he had to suppress his family affection and repeatedly shelved Chai Rong's request to enter Beijing.This time, taking advantage of Wang Jun's going out to control the river, Guo Wei let Chai Rong come to Beijing.The emperor and his son met as if they were dating a thief, which is also a miracle through the ages.

However, Wang Jun, who was far away on the construction site in Huazhou, was well-informed and was always paying attention to the big and small things in the capital. He learned that the prince Chai Rong had arrived in Kaifeng, and that the emperor had promoted a newcomer, Ma Quanyi, to an important post. Wang Jun was very jealous Fa, hastily left the front line of river control, and rushed back to the capital. Like a mouse meeting a cat, Guo Wei sent Chai Rong back to the fiefdom of Chanzhou on the second day after Wang Jun returned to Beijing. The father and son hurriedly parted within three days of meeting.This shows Guo Wei's scruples about Wang Jun.It can also be seen from this that Wang Junzhi's domineering, domineering mentality and influence of monopolizing favors far surpassed his power, and became a huge force superimposed on top of Wang Jun's huge power.

Zhou Taizu Guo Wei was born in a humble background, started in the army, and grew up in a mutiny. After going through troubled times, he knew very well the risks of appointing and dismissing imperial officials.Therefore, on the one hand, Guo Wei selects talents and appoints talents, entrusts them with important tasks, and relies on them to implement the national strategy.But on the other hand, he doesn't completely trust anyone, and he is worried that the officials will be too powerful and the power will be too concentrated, and it will be difficult for a certain person to control in the future.The lesson of turning into an elbow and armpit and causing trouble to Xiao Qiang always reminds him to be on guard against ministers of civil and military affairs.

Guo Wei has many ways to check and balance ministers.He first took dilution measures, constantly promoting new people, and decentralizing the power of existing ministers.Another way is to frequently transfer positions to prevent capable ministers from staying in one position for too long and prevent them from accumulating too much power and energy.Guo Wei's strategy is as deep as the city, and his political skills are astute, and they are by no means comparable to Shi Jingtang and Liu Zhiyuan. In order to strengthen the imperial power, Guo Wei resorted to various political tricks, made unremitting efforts, and made frequent moves.In order to strengthen the imperial power, Shi Jingtang, the emperor of the later Jin Dynasty, once canceled the setting of privy envoys and reformed the allocation of monarchy and ministerial power, but it ended in failure.Guo Wei's practice of promoting the centralization of power by the emperor inevitably caused conflicts with the prime minister.What's more, the prime minister at this time is Wang Jun, who has power over the government and the public. Moreover, Wang Jun's power at this time far exceeds that of the privy envoy. He holds several positions, comparable to Jing Xiang in Zhu Liang's period.

A big difference between Wang Jun and Jing Xiang is that Wang Jun is domineering, takes power and affairs, and has a strong desire for power.And Jingxiang is diligent in his duties, but has no desire for power, and deliberately keeps a low profile, trying to be consistent with the emperor Zhu Quanzhong.Therefore, Jingxiang's huge power was given by Zhu Quanzhong based on trust, while Wang Jun's huge power was given by Guo Wei because of his career needs.Zhu Quanzhong is much more cunning and domineering than Guo Wei. He can give the prime minister so much power, which shows that the mutual trust between the two of them is much higher than that of Guo Wei and Wang Jun.

This also explains why the chief minister Wang Jun is so sensitive to the emperor's promotion and transfer of cadres, and why Wang Jun will find ways to install cadres by himself. There is only one reason, to compete with the emperor for power. A core word in Wang Jun's philosophical dictionary is "struggle". But Wang Jun met a powerful and powerful emperor. An Chonghui used to be a contender, but what he met was a kind emperor. Guo Wei is not as kind as Li Siyuan, Guo Wei holds a philosophy of pragmatism.In order to revitalize Hou Zhou and promote work and career, Guo Wei tolerated Wang Jun's various excessive demands.There is a knife on the head of the word forbearance, which is doomed that Guo Wei will not be able to bear it for too long.

Wang Jun has many ways to consolidate and expand his power, such as presiding over the imperial examinations, recommending appointments and removals, mobilizing cadres, taking the initiative to do work, getting emotional and picking people up. In 953 A.D. (the third year of Guangshun in the later Zhou Dynasty), Wang Jun proposed to Emperor Guo Wei several times that he would concurrently serve as the Jiedushi of a feudal town.Wang Jun's request was indeed a bit exaggerated. He was already a first-class official among the civil servants, and at the same time he was in charge of military and state affairs, so he actually asked for an increase in the position of Jiedushi.In modern times, there have been very few people who can hold both internal and external positions. For example, Shi Hongzhao, the commander of the guards and troops of the Later Han Dynasty, once served as the governor of the feudal town, and Guo Wei, the privy envoy and servant, served as the governor of Tianxiong.But the positions of these people were conferred by the emperor on his own initiative, and no one strongly requested them.Wang Jun's greed for power is beyond words.Emperor Guo Wei was unwilling, but out of helplessness, he gave in to Wang Jun again and gave him the post of Pinglu Jiedushi. The reason why Guo Wei was able to accept Wang Jun's aggressive request was because he had other plans.On the one hand, when the country is employing people, Wang Jun is very capable of working, and the emperor needs Wang Jun to do many things for him.On the other hand, what Guo Wei forbears is all about Wang Jun himself or matters within the scope of his position, without exceeding a certain scope, in exchange for Wang Jun's support and compromise with Guo Wei in other aspects. It didn't take long for this kind of exchange and compromise between the monarch and his subjects to come to an end. Emperor Guo Wei must firmly grasp the power to appoint and dismiss the next-level prime ministers and ministers, so as to consolidate the imperial power.However, Wang Jun repeatedly resisted, and proposed that his favorite person be elected as the second-level prime minister and ministers of various ministries.Guo Wei believed that Wang Jun had violated the authority of the emperor, and Wang Jun believed that the emperor had intervened too much, and the essence was to seize power.Guo Wei didn't want to lose power, so the two had a fierce conflict. The monarch and his ministers quarreled for a day, but to no avail. Emperor Guo Wei believed that the appointment and removal of senior officials was an inviolable position of imperial power, and Wang Jun must not be accommodated here. The contradiction between the emperor and the prime minister broke out completely in this field. The next day, taking advantage of the court meeting, Zhou Taizu Guo Wei suddenly ordered Wang Jun to be arrested and locked in a small black room.Guo Wei cried out all his grievances to Feng Dao, Zheng Renhui and other civil and military officials, and accused Wang Jun of all kinds of bad deeds of ignoring the emperor, bullying the emperor, insatiable official desires, and alienating family ties for many years.Guo Wei confessed in every possible way how he endured and endured all the grievances, and he couldn't bear it any longer. It was really a last resort to dismiss Wang Jun. Emperor Guo Wei firmly holds the power to sue and presents himself as a victim.Of course, he would not give Wang Jun any chance to speak, would not allow Wang Jun to meet with anyone, and would directly dismiss him and send him to Shangzhou without going through judicial procedures such as interrogation.When Wang Jun arrived in Shangzhou, he suffered from diarrhea. Emperor Guo Wei still missed Wang Jun and allowed Wang Jun's wife to visit Wang Jun, but it was strange that Wang Jun died of illness within a few days. Perhaps acute dysentery killed Wang Jun. Perhaps Guo Wei assassinated Wang Jun. God only knows. A battle between emperors and princes came to an end. It doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong in this struggle. This is a stalemate tragedy that feudal society has repeatedly staged but cannot resolve itself. The number one civil servant, Wang Jun, who made the first contribution to Guo Wei's proclaiming emperor, died.Its first effect is to harm its kind. Like Wang Jun, there are many high-ranking officials who once supported Guo Wei as the emperor and held important positions. These people will inevitably think of the old saying "the dog is cooked when the rabbit dies, and the bird is hidden when the bow is exhausted". Later Zhou Liguo made great contributions.The other "Wang Juns" felt uneasy. Uneasiness may induce self-defense, and self-defense may be over-defense. Guo Wei, who once prompted his master to defend himself and experienced self-defense, is well aware of the chain reaction that may result from the consequences of Wang Jun's dismissal.Guo Wei's confession was almost the same as that of Han Yin Emperor Liu Chengyou when he killed several auxiliary ministers, and he felt bullied by the auxiliary ministers.Of course, Guo Wei would think of the scene and consequences of Emperor Yin of the Han hastily cutting off the auxiliary ministers.This is also one of the important reasons why Guo Wei has always tolerated Wang Jun.After all, Guo Wei is not Emperor Yin of the Han Dynasty, Guo Wei is a seasoned strongman.Therefore, under normal circumstances, the smart Guo Wei will take the initiative to take measures to appease the conflict before it is brewing and fermenting. The first object of appeasement was Wang Yin, the highest general among the military officers. Wang Jun and Wang Yin are the bosses in the civil and military circles, they stand side by side, and they work together as one body. Wang Yin was tall and strong in battle, but he was modest and cautious, and he was very filial to his mother.Big things and small things must be reported to the mother's consent before doing it. Even though Wang Yin later became the governor, he was often beaten by his mother in public for mishandling some small things.Although he has been in the army for a long time, Wang Yin is very cautious in making friends, and never fools around with the miscellaneous people. Because Wang Yin informed Guo Wei, who was guarding Yedu, of the assassination order of Emperor Yin of the Han Dynasty at the first time, Guo Wei was lucky enough to save his life and made a timely and decisive counterattack.It can be said that Wang Yin has saved Guo Wei's life and supported him.After Guo Wei became the emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, he handed over the important task of guarding Yedu to Wang Yin, and allowed Wang Yin to control the Hebei army.This is Guo Wei's highest praise and great trust in Wang Yin. However, Guo Wei didn't really trust Wang Yin completely.He transferred the prince Chai Rong who stayed in Yedu to Chanzhou between Yedu and Kaifeng, which is the place where Guo Wei Huangqi joined the mutiny. effect.Guo Wei didn't want another rebellion in Yedu, a powerful vassal under heaven, to happen after he became emperor.After Wang Jun was eradicated, Chai Rong was promoted to governor of Kaifeng and king of Jin, and he was finally able to enter Beijing.The person who succeeded Chai Rong in guarding Chanzhou was still Guo Wei's confidant, and Zheng Renhui was appointed as the governor of Zhenning. Emperor Yin of the Han Dynasty killed Minister Gu Ming, and Guo Wei, another Minister Gu Ming who was stationed in Yedu, rebelled in order to protect himself. In the same way or the same model, if Guo Wei killed the first-class hero Wang Jun, will the other first-class hero Wang Yin stationed in Yedu rebel?Who can guarantee that he will not rebel?What if they rebel? So Guo Wei sent Wang Chenghui, Wang Yin's son and flying dragon envoy, to Yedu to comfort Wang Yin.Guo Wei sent Wang Chenghui to this trip to appease Wang Yin on the surface, and the real purpose is to observe and test the mental fluctuations of Wang Yin and his son on the spot. If Wang Yin makes a slight change, it is very likely that he will be killed immediately. Wang Yin didn't change anything. Wang Yin is not stupid, he knows that the emperor is suspicious of him. As a courtier, the only way to show his loyalty is to automatically remove his authority, come to the emperor's side, and become a weak person.This is exactly what Wang Yin did. He asked Emperor Guo Wei for instructions, and took the opportunity of celebrating Guo Wei's birthday on the autumn Wanshou Festival, and took the initiative to come to the capital to congratulate the emperor.Isn't that a good move?But Guo Wei disagreed.Because Guo Wei was worried that Wang Yin was not sincere, and he was worried that Wang Yin would use this to test him.Many people have used this method before. Shi Jingtang, Fan Yanguang, and Murong Yanchao have all pretended to leave the fief, but once the emperor really agrees to their request, they will be on a dead end. They will take risks and tear themselves apart with the emperor. confrontation. This has become that the two sides are afraid of the hemp stalk beating the wolf, and they are suspicious of each other. In the absence of trust, Wang Yin gave up on an act of loyalty that was difficult to distinguish between true and false. Before long, the emperor will hold a grand ceremony in the southern suburbs.Wang Yin once again asked to go to Beijing to see the emperor.This time Guo Wei had no choice but to agree to Wang Yin's coming to Beijing.It was inevitable for Wang Yin to enter the capital with his guards. In addition, Wang Yin was a burly man, and the army of Yedu marched on the streets of Kaifeng with majestic momentum. Wang Yin did not change, and expressed his loyalty repeatedly.But someone made a change, and someone informed Guo Wei of Wang Yin's change.It is said that Wang Yin was greedy for money and levied taxes and grain in Hebei.It is said that Wang Yin is domineering and arrogant.It is said that Wang Yin has a conspiracy and is making small calculations.Emperor Guo Wei had been suspicious of Wang Yin, thinking that only he had the strength to cause chaos.Now someone is exposing Wang Yin in a serious way, which immediately increases the credibility of this plausible news and strengthens Guo Wei's suspicion of Wang Yin. The day of the suburban ceremony is approaching day by day, but Guo Wei's body has malfunctioned, and he has difficulty even walking.However, the rumors about Wang Yingong's high-ranking master have been wave after wave, which makes Guo Wei restless and restless.Some ministers were also confused and talked a lot.At this time, there were major earthquakes in Yedu, Xingzhou, and Mingzhou, and the great changes in the sky were often regarded as early warnings of human disasters in feudal society.This adds to the mystery of the rumors. It is better to believe in what is there than to believe in what is not. It is better to strike first, and to suffer later. Zhou Taizu Guo Weiqiang supported his sick body and held a meeting of officials in the Zide Hall to discuss matters.When Wang Yin reported to the palace and greeted the emperor, suddenly a large group of armed swordsmen rushed out from both sides, took Wang Yin three times, five divisions two times, and tied him up.The emperor issued a decree saying that Wang Yin had plotted against the law, dismissed all officials, and sent him to the army.But Wang Yin was escorted out of the capital, and within ten miles away, he was secretly killed by the killer sent by Guo Wei.In order to prevent the mutiny in Yedu, Emperor Guo Wei immediately sent Zheng Renjiao from Chanzhou to fly to Yedu to take over the military power.It was Wang Yin's second son who stayed behind in Yedu, this young man was beheaded by Zheng Renhui in a daze. So far, the two top heroes who had helped Guo Wei seize the throne of the emperor were cut off by the emperor within a year. In fact, strictly speaking, Wang Jun and Wang Yin cannot be regarded as Guo Wei's subordinates, or in the eyes of the "two kings".The three of them have always been allies in the major events of Yedu uprising, Chanzhou mutiny, and Bianliang seizing the throne. The "two kings" do not have the affiliation relationship of being commanded by Guo Wei and following Guo Wei.The three of them came together for the common security needs and formed an alliance of "one country and two kings".Although Guo Wei later became emperor, the "two kings" did not eliminate the psychological background of the alliance relationship because of the establishment of the relationship between monarch and minister, and Wang Jun's performance was particularly prominent.He asked for officials and power again and again, and his purpose was to share power and benefits with Guo Wei. This was the result of the psychological drive of his allies. Wang Jun's exclusion of Chai Rong vividly reflected his ally mentality. He did not recognize Chai Rong as Guo Wei's prince and flesh and blood. He believed that he was Guo Wei's closest comrade-in-arms.Chai Rong is just a person with a foreign surname, and he didn't play any role in the struggle for the throne. How can he gain more power in the empire by relying on the relationship of the fake prince?Therefore, Wang Jun unabashedly squeezed out Chai Rong, and his purpose was still to protect the outdated alliance between him and Guo Wei. Who doesn't trust whom? Who is testing whom? I am afraid that history is also difficult to comment on.