Chapter 19 12. The death of Guo Chongtao

When the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden.The enemy's country is destroyed, and the counselor dies.The cunning rabbit dies, the running dog cooks.When the mill is unloaded, the donkey is to be killed.They all mean the same thing. Jingnan Jiedushi Gao Jixing, as the commander in chief to attack Shu in the southeast, not only did not take advantage of the Tang army's attack on Shu, on the contrary, he suffered repeated defeats and almost lost his life. One day Gao Jixing was eating, and someone came to report that the Tang Dynasty had destroyed Shu.Gao Jixing was shocked, and with a trembling of his hand, he dropped the spoon and chopsticks and knocked over a bowl of rice.Gao Jixing patted his forehead regretfully and said: "It's my fault. At first Li Cunxu asked me whether it was easier to attack Wu or Shu. In order to embarrass Li Cunxu and want to weaken Tang through war, I tempted him to say that Shu is rich in products. , Encouraging him to attack Shu. In fact, it is much more difficult to attack Shu. I did not expect him to succeed and get a big advantage."

Liang Zhen, Gao Jixing's counselor, said: "There is nothing to worry about. After the Tang emperor destroys Shu, he will become even more arrogant and domineering. Tang's fall is just around the corner, and it will be beneficial to us at that time." The development of the situation in the Tang State was indeed caught by Liang Zhenyan. To put it bluntly, in the case of extremely underdeveloped information and intelligence in ancient society, it is indeed miraculous that the situation of the enemy country can be so accurately judged across thousands of mountains and rivers.In modern society, a group of economists, sociologists, scientists, professors, and officials gather together, spend huge sums of money, and study more than a dozen subjects, but the conclusions they draw are often far from the truth.

Just when Guo Chongtao overcame obstacles, ate and slept in the open air, and exhausted his efforts to attack Shu, the internal contradictions of Tang also reached a climax. Guo Chongtao has a very distinctive personality. He dares to do things, is enthusiastic about his work, is dedicated and hardworking, free-spirited, decisive and decisive.In the war against Shu, since the emperor had instructed Guo Chongtao to be responsible for all military affairs before his departure, Guo Chongtao did not shirk and went all out to shoulder this burden. Things always have two sides.Guo Chongtao regards defeating Shu as his own duty, but he also committed a big taboo, a big taboo of making a big tree attract wind.Originally, Prince Wei Wang Li Jiji was the top leader, and all major decisions should be made by Li Jiji, and the people who asked for instructions and reports from all walks of life should also be Li Jiji, and Guo Chongtao was just an assistant to the staff.But Guo Chongtao didn't settle for this relationship. He thought that the prince wasn't very sensible anyway, so he might as well not bother him, and it would be more efficient to decide things by himself.Guo Chongtao didn't take the leader of the prince seriously.

Guo Chongtao's deputy commander-in-chief's mansion was bustling with traffic, meeting, reporting, drafting appointment and dismissal documents, delivering official documents and letters, giving gifts, and paying accounts.Everyone knows that as long as they find Guo Chongtao, things will come to fruition and it will be done.In stark contrast to this, the commander-in-chief Li Jiji's mansion was deserted and deserted. Except for the daily morning meeting of all soldiers, no one came to Li Jiji for instructions and reports, and no one thought he was a powerful figure. No one came to him to give gifts and entertain guests through the back door.

Wei Wang Li Jiji had no unpleasant thoughts at first. He also thought that Guo Chongtao recommended him as the coach because Guo Chongtao helped him enrich his resume.Isn't that great?Guo Chongtao will handle everything, and the crown prince will be credited with the great credit for destroying Shu.But there are many people who don't think so. In the Tang army that conquered Shu, in addition to the prince Li Jiji as the commander and Guo Chongtao as the envoy, the emperor Li Cunxu also equipped the army with many cadres.The great eunuch Li Congxi was sent to supervise the army, the eunuchs Li Ting'an and Lu Zhirou were the report officers of the Wei Palace, and Ren Yuan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Li Yu, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, were the staff of the Marshal's Mansion.This is a very luxurious lineup. It is no longer just a combat force, it is almost equipped with a team with a complete military and political system.

The reason why the cadres are allocated in this way not only reflects Li Cunxu's emphasis on this battle, but also reflects Li Cunxu's worry about the generals who defeated Shu.Since ancient times, many of the troops who entered Shu have become independent, and we must be vigilant because of the lessons learned from the past.Guo Chongtao was also aware of this, so he recommended Meng Zhixiang as the future governor of Sichuan before going on the expedition, in order to express that he himself would not miss Sichuan, and hoped that the emperor would rest assured of him. Guo Chongtao's side is in full swing, but the prince's place is empty, and what's worse is that there is not much money here.Every time a city was conquered, gold and silver jewelry, silk agate, beautiful singers, and wild game were all sent to the deputy commander's residence, and the remaining thin horses, coarse cloth, spittoons, fly swatters, and pig knuckles were sent to the commander's residence.Supervisor Li Congxi and others felt very ashamed of their low status, and even resented that they could not get any benefits, so they spoke ill of Guo Chongtao in the ear of Prince Li Jiji.Li Jiji's ears are filled with vivid small reports, whether true or false, about Guo Chongtao's money-gathering, lust, greed for power, taking credit, ignoring the ruler, etc., every day.Under the indiscriminate bombardment of these gossips, Li Jiji began to have some bad feelings towards Guo Chongtao.

One day, Guo Chongtao and Li Jiji had a discussion, and chatted casually after finishing the business.Guo Chongtao said to Li Jiji: "Your Majesty, you will be in charge of the world in the future. You have a great responsibility. You must get close to people who have read poetry and books and learned a lot. You can learn from the lessons of previous dynasties. You cannot support eunuchs, let alone let eunuchs take power. Don't even ride a horse. The horses that have been gelded, so as not to get bad luck." Unexpectedly, the eunuch Lu Zhirou overheard these words, and Lu Zhirou embellished them and spread them to other eunuchs.Over the years, Guo Chongtao has been attacking eunuchs everywhere, and has deep conflicts with the eunuch group.Now that Guo Chongtao is so openly instilling the idea of ​​eliminating eunuchs to the successors of the dynasty, the eunuchs gritted their teeth with hatred for Guo Chongtao, eagerly looking for opportunities to take revenge on Guo Chongtao.

After Wang Zongbi, the Minister of Shu Kingdom, surrendered to the Tang army, he offered a lot of bribes to Guo Chongtao, and he walked frequently and closely with Guo Chongtao.This guy Wang Zongbi still dreamed that after Tang Jun left, he would be the queen of Xichuan.He asked Guo Chongtao to clear up the relationship for him.Guo Chongtao knew that Wang Zongbi was corrupt and incompetent, and that the rebellious officials and thieves could not be trusted at all.However, in view of the fact that Wang Zongbi still had tens of thousands of horses, and the thieves in Shu Kingdom had not yet subsided, Guo Chongtao apparently agreed to Wang Zongbi's request, but in fact he procrastinated.

As time went by, Wang Zongbi couldn't get the result for a long time, and there was nothing he could do in a hurry.He thought it was because some people in the Tang State disagreed. If Sichuan was guarded by someone else, he would definitely not have a good life in the future.So he came up with a plan, if Guo Chongtao could stay in Sichuan, it would be better than another stranger.If Guo Chongtao is in charge of Sichuan, he will not treat him badly in the future.After making up his mind, Wang Zongbi brought a group of soldiers and civilians to the prince's commander-in-chief's mansion in a pretentious manner, petitioned and asked the Tang court to keep Guo Chongtao in Sichuan to preside over important military and political affairs.

The people of Shu asked for orders to keep Guo Chongtao. This is a major event with important influence.Li Congxi and others took advantage of the topic and said to Wei Wang Li Jiji: "My lord, Guo Chongtao and his son are dictatorial, and now they are inciting the people of Shu to ask for their orders. From this, it can be inferred that he may have different ambitions. People's hearts are unpredictable. You must guard against it." Under Li Congxi's guidance, Wei Wang Li Jiji became more vigilant towards Guo Chongtao, and replied to Wang Zongbi and others: "Guo Linggong is the prime minister, and he is heavily relied on by his father. He is inseparable from the court. How can we do it?" Overqualified, let Guo Linggong be wronged in remote Sichuan! The matter you are talking about is too big to be decided within my power. If you really insist, then go to Luoyang and ask Father for instructions." Li Jiji softened Nail sent Wang Zongbi away.

The appeal incident quickly reached Guo Chongtao's ears.Guo Chongtao didn't find anything wrong with Prince Li Jiji's reply, but he always felt like he had eaten flies, and he felt very uncomfortable.The rift between Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao widened, and the feeling of mutual distrust grew day by day. Although Chengdu surrendered, the emperor of Shu Kingdom was also sent to Luoyang in a wooden cage prison cart, but many of the soldiers and horses who fled from Shu Kingdom fell into bandits.Due to the war, bandits also took the opportunity to spread everywhere.For long-term consideration, Guo Chongtao sent Ren Yuan and Zhang Yun to attack separately.For this reason, the Tang army who defeated Shu stayed in Sichuan for a while. The news that the Shu people retained Guo Chongtao seemed to have grown wings, and quickly flew to Luoyang, and reached the ears of Emperor Li Cunxu.Li Cunxu was originally worried that the troops who conquered Shu would become independent, so all previous efforts would be wasted.Hearing that Guo Chongtao was deeply supported by the Shu people, and that the army had not returned to the court for a long time, Li Cunxu became suspicious. Li Cunxu sent eunuch Xiang Yansi to Chengdu to urge the withdrawal.The arrival of the emperor's imperial envoys in Chengdu is equivalent to the emperor's visit.Guo Chongtao didn't take it seriously because he always disliked eunuchs.The journey to Yansi was tiring and dusty, Guo Chongtao neither went out of the city to greet him, nor did he throw a big banquet to entertain the envoy.Guo Chongtao's reception work was very simple and indifferent, deliberately ignoring the eunuch imperial envoy. Xiang Yansi is used to arrogance, and he is always arrogant in front of others, and hugs those who are popular and hot.Guo Chongtao treated him so indifferently, and looked like a superior treats a subordinate.Xiang Yansi was hungry at first, and wanted to take the opportunity of this business trip to eat and drink, and get some extra money.Unexpectedly, Guo Chongtao only served him a few home-cooked dishes, namely cabbage tofu, radish and sweet potato.Xiang Yansi has long heard that the legendary Sichuan food is spicy and delicious, but today there is none of it.Xiang Yansi was angry, thinking that this Guo Chongtao was too arrogant, and he didn't have any enthusiasm for hospitality to the court envoys, it's unreasonable! After eating at Guo Chongtao's place, Xiang Yansi was invited by Li Congxi again.Xiang Yansi pulled his face and complained to Li Congxi.Li Congxi took this opportunity to instill a lot of bad things about Guo Chongtao in Xiang Yansi.Li Congxi said: "Before the army, Guo Chongtao did not use the prince as a cadre. He acted arbitrarily and arrogantly. He spent every day with the generals in the army and the wealthy gentry of the Shu Kingdom. I don't know what ulterior motives they are talking about. Someone asked Guo Chongtao suggested that "Shu is rich in products, rich in land and beautiful in people, so Guo Chongtao should make a plan early." Now tens of thousands of troops are under the control of Guo Chongtao, and the prince is actually caught in the jaws of tigers and wolves. If something unexpected happens, we may even The place of burial was nowhere to be found." After Li Congxi finished speaking, he hugged Xiang Yansi and burst into tears.The two eunuchs poured out their noses and tears to each other, and wept so loudly that everything was turned upside down. In fact, the emperor sent a special person to urge the withdrawal, which was already a warning signal.Guo Chongtao should be vigilant, with his political wisdom, he should not be careless in such matters.But the tiger also dozed off sometimes, and Guo Chongtao was also blinded by the victory of Pingshu, and did not notice the crisis of the undercurrent. Xiang Yansi collected first-hand information about Guo Chongtao before the army, and hurried back to Luoyang to report to his master.Xiang Yansi not only reported to Emperor Li Cunxu, but also to Empress Liu, and fanned the flames in front of Empress Liu.Empress Liu had long held a grudge against Guo Chongtao's contempt for her background.The time for revenge has come.If a woman takes revenge on someone, her energy and strength are terrifying and astonishing. Empress Liu cried to Li Cunxu and hung herself three times. She kept saying that the prince Li Jiji was in danger, and asked the emperor to rescue the prince as soon as possible.In fact, he asked the emperor to kill Guo Chongtao. Not long after, the battle report on the destruction of Shu Kingdom was sent to Luoyang, which detailed the process of dispatching troops, the battles experienced, the list of meritorious service and fallen soldiers, the situation of surrendering Shu Kingdom officials, the capture of enemy troops and materials, and also included Occupy and confiscate the treasury property accounts of Shu.Zhuang Zong Li Cunxu looked at these accounts and said to himself suspiciously: "Everyone says that Shu is a fertile land in the world, and there are countless rare treasures. Why are there so many things?" The reputation of Shu's richness was at its peak during Wang Jian's period, and Wang Zongyan's extravagance and waste in the past few years was almost the same.In addition, the prince Li Jiji was relatively lenient and did not implement the policy of search and accumulation.Therefore, the property of Shu State seized by the Tang army was not as much as Li Cunxu imagined. Li Cunxu's subtle expression changes were noticed by Xiang Yansi who was standing aside.Xiang Yansi leaned over and said: "I heard that when the Kingdom of Shu collapsed, all the rare treasures were presented to Guo Chongtao and his son, so there were not many left to be given to the court." Lethal because half is true and half is false.In fact, the most powerful slander is this kind of half-truth and half-false words that cannot be verified accurately.Guo Chongtao and his son did receive a lot of money, but it was not enough to take over half of Shu's property.Xiang Yansi's words played a role and deeply stimulated Li Cunxu.Li Cunxu was furious when he slapped the table, and almost jumped into a rage. Guo Chongtao's danger is intensifying, and the footsteps of death are approaching. This time, Guo Chongtao's enemies were no longer one, nor a group of people, but several groups of people with strength, status and power. These people almost included all the most powerful people in the Tang Kingdom. At the center of the conflict between Guo Chongtao and his enemies was the emperor Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu's attitude determines the direction and outcome of this group of contradictions. The Kingdom of Shu has been wiped out by the Kingdom of Tang.According to the established policy, it is necessary for the Tang State to send officials to guard the frontier.The candidate is Guo Chongtao's old benefactor Meng Zhixiang.At that time, Meng Zhixiang recommended Guo Chongtao as the office director of King Jin, and now Guo Chongtao recommends Meng Zhixiang as Xichuan Jiedu Envoy.Xichuan is bigger and fatter than Taiyuan.Guo Chongtao can be regarded as a repayment of kindness.Meng Zhixiang is also Li Cunxu's former subordinate and relative by marriage.Li Cunxu was very relieved of Meng Zhixiang.Therefore, although Meng Zhixiang was recommended by Guo Chongtao, and although Li Cunxu now suspects that Guo Chongtao has different intentions, Li Cunxu still has unwavering trust in Meng Zhixiang. Before Meng Zhixiang left, Zhuang Zong Li Cunxu said: "I heard that Guo Chongtao has a different heart. Get rid of him for me after you take office." Meng Zhixiang was taken aback by Li Cunxu's words, then shook his head and said, "Guo Chongtao is a pillar of the country and has made great contributions. He should not have done such a thing. When I arrive in Chengdu, pay attention to observe and play by ear. If there is any sign, I will send him back." Li Cunxu also agreed with Meng Zhixiang's opinion. In fact, Li Cunxu didn't really believe that Guo Chongtao would have a different heart, but because of his professional sensitivity as an emperor, "I would rather let the people of the world bear me than let the people of the world betray me", and never trust anyone, so he became suspicious of Guo Chongtao. But it hasn't reached the point of making up his mind to kill. After Meng Zhixiang circled around like this, Guo Chongtao's affairs took a turn for the better. Li Cunxu is well aware of the long-standing conflict between Guo Chongtao and the eunuch group, so it can be estimated that the twists and turns are not simple.He also knew that Meng Zhixiang and Guo Chongtao had a friendly relationship, and Meng Zhixiang would not get rid of Guo Chongtao easily, maybe Meng Zhixiang might even wear a pair of pants with Guo Chongtao.Therefore, after Meng Zhixiang set off, Li Cunxu sent Ma Yangui to Chengdu to investigate Guo Chongtao.Li Cunxu secretly ordered Ma Yangui: "If Guo Chongtao obeys the court's order and returns to the court on time, everything will be easy. If he procrastinates or shows disobedience, you and the prince will get rid of him immediately." In order to find out Guo Chongtao's situation, Li Cunxu sent people to investigate repeatedly and set up assumptions, which shows that Li Cunxu was still very cautious and left room for Guo Chongtao. Although Li Cunxu hadn't made the final murderous attempt on Guo Chongtao, the eunuch group and queen group couldn't wait.Ma Yangui withdrew from the emperor, and went to ask Empress Liu for instructions before leaving.Ma Yangui said to Empress Liu: "My minister told Yansi that the situation in Sichuan has reached a very serious level, and there is no time for it to happen. Guo Chongtao will rebel at any time. Now the emperor is hesitant. Should he wait until he realizes the seriousness of the situation before returning from Chengdu?" Do you want to ask Luoyang, which is three thousand miles away?" Ma Yangui clearly applied for authorization to deal with emergency situations. Instigated by Ma Yangui, Empress Liu hurriedly went to Emperor Zhuangzong and asked the emperor to issue a killing order.Li Cunxu said worriedly: "The things about Guo Chongtao are all rumors, and there is still a lack of actual evidence. How can we make a hasty conclusion?" Empress Liu felt ashamed, and returned to her harem from Emperor Zhuangzong. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she should do something. If she didn't do something to Guo Chongtao at this time, she might never have another chance in the future.The woman drafted the order in her own name.The order was given to Prince Li Jiji, ordering him to kill Guo Chongtao immediately on the spot. When Meng Zhixiang reached the Sichuan border, Ma Yangui caught up with him and urged Meng Zhixiang to take up his post as soon as possible.When Meng Zhixiang saw that the emperor sent another secret envoy, he understood about 70% or 80% of the time. He looked up to the sky and sighed: "There is going to be a big mess." In a blink of an eye, it was the first month of 926 AD. According to the order of the Tang court, the troops of the Tang army who conquered Shu returned to the court. Wei Wang Li Jiji, as the supreme commander, organized the withdrawal of troops, leaving Ren Yuan as Xichuan to wait for Meng Zhixiang. Just after the deployment of various affairs of the troop withdrawal operation, Ma Yangui rushed to Chengdu sweating profusely day and night.Ma Yangui didn't care to drink his saliva, and immediately handed over the order from Empress Liu to Li Jiji, asking Li Jiji to kill Guo Chongtao. Li Jiji disagreed with this. He said: "The tens of thousands of troops are about to set off, and Guo Chongtao has not shown signs of misbehavior. Why do you do such a heartless thing? Don't talk about it. Besides, there is no emperor. Is it legal to kill recruiters based solely on the empress' decree?" As the leader of the frontline government, Li Jiji was the most familiar with the situation and had the most objective assessment of the situation.This also shows that Li Jiji is not a narrow-minded person who is bound by prejudice. Here we want to talk about the effectiveness of Tang's documents in particular.After the Later Tang Dynasty entered Luoyang, Zhu Liang's "Law Format" was completely abolished, and his own legal documents were messed up.Not only the emperor can issue orders, but also the queen can issue orders.The orders issued by the emperor are called edicts, and the orders issued by the queen are called jiao.The authority of imperial edicts is greater than that of decrees, and the matters in charge of them are also important.However, in the actual implementation, the edicts and decrees went their own way, which was chaotic.The treacherous people and various interest groups proceeded from their own needs, and issued edicts at one time, and decrees at another time.It is even more unbelievable at the implementation level, and you can implement whichever you want to implement. Such a major event as killing and recruiting envoys belongs to the category of decree, and the queen's decree has no power.Therefore, Li Jiji did not agree to kill Guo Chongtao.It can be seen from this that Prince Li Jiji is not a fool. Although he and Guo Chongtao developed hostility, considering the overall situation of the country, he was not deceived by his personal emotions and the people around him.Judging from the performance of Prince Li Jiji along the way to defeat Shu, he is also a monarch with high quality and knowledge. Wei Wang Li Jiji did not agree to kill Guo Chongtao, which made a group of eunuchs anxious.These guys without the little boss have a very developed relationship with the big boss.They face difficulties and persevere.Led by Li Congxi, surrounded by Li Jiji, he discussed the necessity of killing Guo Chongtao in every possible way, and finally resorted to his trump card, saying: "Since the news of Guo Chongtao's killing has been exposed, Guo Chongtao will definitely act first. Guo Chongtao launched a mutiny on the way, and by then it will be too late to regret." Let these eunuchs quarrel, and Li Jiji has no idea. Seeing that Li Jiji's attitude had softened, Li Congxi falsely passed on the order of the King of Wei and invited Guo Chongtao to come to the Marshal's Mansion to discuss matters. After Guo Chongtao received the order, he brought his two sons to the Marshal's Mansion without any suspicion of fraud.In order to avoid suspicion, Li Jiji hid upstairs instead of meeting Guo Chongtao.Guo Chongtao climbed up the stairs, without squinting, with a majestic and solemn expression.Several sons followed behind one by one.Guo Chongtao and his son had just walked halfway up the steps. Among the guards standing on both sides of the steps, someone rushed out suddenly. With a rush of wind, this person smashed Guo Chongtao's head with an iron hammer.Guo Chongtao's body rolled down the steps heavily.Due to the sudden incident, Guo Chongtao's sons had no time to make any resistance. They had just touched the handle of the saber when the guards of the Marshal's Mansion cut Guo Chongtao's son in two. In just a few seconds, Guo Chongtao and his two sons were found dead in the Marshal's Mansion, blood splashing on the building of the Marshal's Mansion. At this time, Li Song, the leader of the capital, came to the commander's mansion to do business, and was shocked when he saw this scene.Said to Wei Wang Li Jiji: "Now we are fighting alone three thousand miles away. Without the emperor's order, we have killed the general without authorization. Why did you do such a reckless and dangerous thing? This will cause great chaos. Yes. Can't you bear to talk about it in Luoyang?" Li Jiji was also shocked by the scene in front of him, his face was pale, and he said tremblingly: "You are right, I regret it too, what should I do now?" In order to freeze the news and stabilize the morale of the army, Li Song secretly produced a fake emperor's decree on the spot, announcing Guo Chongtao's crime of conspiracy to rebel. Prince Li Jiji executed Guo Chongtao according to the emperor's order to eliminate the evil. Meng Zhixiang arrived in Chengdu one day later than Ma Yangui, at which time Guo Chongtao had already been killed.Meng Zhixiang remained calm in the face of danger, went out to appease the people, comforted the soldiers, and finally stabilized the political and social order in Chengdu.There is a mystery here, why did Meng Zhixiang arrive later than Ma Yangui?Could it be that Meng Zhixiang deliberately avoided conflicts and fell behind?Or did Ma Yangui deliberately get rid of Meng Zhixiang and arrive in front?This has become an eternal mystery.Anyway, before and after the Guo Chongtao incident, Meng Zhixiang was very calm. Guo Chongtao died in a foreign country, and the matter is far from over. After Ma Yangui returned to Luoyang, he reported to Emperor Li Cunxu for his return.Although Li Cunxu has not yet obtained the real evidence of Guo Chongtao's rebellion, since the empress and princes all participated in the matter, and the uncooked rice has been cooked, it is irreversible, so he had to make it an iron case.This iron case is much stronger than the death-free coupon Guo Chongtao got.No matter how many death-free coupons you hold in your hand, they are nothing but a pile of scrap iron. Such a smart person as Guo Chongtao has forgotten a rule of survival in the officialdom of feudal society. Never offend villains, let alone women, and even more powerful villains, and even more powerful women. Not to mention offending powerful villains and women at the same time. Zhuang Zong Li Cunxu issued an edict publicly announcing Guo Chongtao's crime of treason.Guo Chongtao's case involved many people, and the eunuch group launched a crazy revenge and counterattack.Guo Chongtao's three sons were killed in Luoyang.Although Guo Chongtao's son-in-law Li Cunyi is Li Cunxu's younger brother, he also failed to escape this persecution and was given to death at home.Zhu Youqian, the Hezhong Jiedu envoy who had always had a close relationship with Guo Chongtao, was implicated, not only the whole family was killed, but also the old generals.Even Li Siyuan, Zhongshuling, Chengde Jiedushi, and the general manager of the Fanhan Mabu, was implicated several times and almost died. Fortunately, the privy envoy Li Shaohong rescued him in many ways and saved him from death.Even Zhang Xian, who was not very close to Guo Chongtao, failed to enter the court as prime minister according to the original plan, but was pushed out by eunuchs to stay in Taiyuan to replace Meng Zhixiang. Guo Chongtao is dead. Guo Chongtao died for no apparent reason. More people died for no reason because of Guo Chongtao. This is tantamount to dropping a 10,000-ton equivalent bomb into an oil pan. The ruling and opposition parties of the Tang Dynasty were shaken. This is not a big deal, more heavy bombs are in the back.