Chapter 10 Chapter 10: All the tricks hurt the smarts

who is that carpenter Chai Rong died, leaving behind a vast empire, his young orphan and widow, and countless problems that needed to be solved.One of the most important is who will replace him. His seven-year-old Crown Prince Chai Zongxun? Poor child, in fact, according to our traditional Chinese age counting method, the real age of this child who has been confirmed as the legal heir of the Later Zhou Empire (born in 953 AD), so far in 959 AD, is actually only five or six years old!But those arrogant warriors of the latter week even refused to accept Chai Rong, who was already thirty-four years old at the time...

So Chai Rong lived a tiring life, and even wanted to die but couldn't find peace. He had to drag his dying and exhausted sick body to make various arrangements for his young son. To sum up, there are the following key points: First, register as a queen. His queen was originally the daughter of the general Fu Yanqing, but unfortunately died in the third year of Xiande (956), a step ahead of him.He missed it very much and never made another queen.But it can't work now, the child is too young, how can he do without a mother?After much deliberation, he finally named the queen's younger sister, another daughter of Fu Yanqing, as the queen of Hou Zhou.

Presumably, she would love her own sister's sons a little... At the same time, she would be fully protected by Fu Yanqing! Second, establish the status of the youngest son's heir. Before getting sick, Chai Rong never mentioned the matter of sealing his son in order to show fairness.But now Chai Zongxun is appointed King of Liang and General of the Left Guard; Chai Zongrang is named Duke of Yan and General of Zuo Xiaowei;Even if he died, the empire would have at least two heirs. Third, Chai Rong is going to leave alone. As for civil servants, he chose three prime ministers—Fan Zhi, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu.They are all ministers who are deeply favored by Chai Rong, especially Wei Renpu. This person has no professional qualifications and is not a Jinshi.In terms of generals, Chai Rong is incomprehensible.

No merit or demerit, he actually dismissed Zhang Yongde, who had the highest military rank in the Later Zhou Dynasty, from his official position.Not only was he removed from the post of inspection in front of the palace, but he was also released to the public to be the envoy of Chanzhou.This is tantamount to completely excluding Zhang Yongde from the core of power. This is too abnormal, you know, the emperor was critically ill at this time, and it was the time when Zhang Yongde, who had been in charge of the army all the year round, was contributing his strength, why did Chai Rong cut off his arm?Moreover, looking through the old and new "History of the Five Dynasties", there is no record of what wrong things Zhang Yongde did during this period of time.So what is it for?

It's very simple. Anyone who knows a little bit about Song history knows that it is a piece of wood about three feet long and hidden in a leather bag.It appeared on the way of Chai Rong's northern conquest of Youyan - "Shizong was on the road, read the documents from all directions, and got Wei Nang, with more than three feet of wood in it, and the inscription said 'check to be the emperor'". Wooden sticks are very common, and skin bags are more common, just because of this line of words on the wooden sticks-"Check to be the emperor".Unfortunately, it was Zhang Yongde who was the commander of the capital in front of the palace of the Hou Zhou Dynasty and made the inspection of the inner capital of the capital.What's more unfortunate is that this happened at the peak of Chai Rong's career and at the same time when he was facing the greatest challenge.

At the critical moment, someone demolished the stage. In order to maintain the morale of the whole army, Chai Rong threw the piece of wood aside casually and ignored it.But he remembered it deeply in his heart, and he has been secretly tracking down who did it. Guess who the hell is that carpenter who made the sticks? Who is who? The person standing not far away smiling triumphantly should be Li Chongjin.No matter how you analyze it, he is the most suspected. Because according to the basic analysis principle of criminal motives—whoever commits the crime benefits, the downfall of Zhang Yongde, both psychologically and in terms of position, will greatly enjoy Li Chongjin.This not only involved the grievances between the two in private, but also involved the power struggle between the commander in front of the palace and the commander of the guard Ma Bujun.

There is really no way to do this. It was caused by Guo Wei, the first emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Strictly speaking, before Guo Wei, there was no Dianqian Division in the world at all, only the Guards' Division, which completely controlled the imperial guards throughout the country during the Five Dynasties.The reason why Guo Wei was able to add the yellow flag and proclaim himself emperor in Chanzhou was entirely with the support of the guards and military commanders.However, the more Guo Wei thought about it afterwards, the more afraid he became, so he created a commander in front of the palace out of thin air, dividing the military power of the imperial army into two, each of which did not command each other, restrained each other, and was directly responsible to the emperor.

So who will specifically lead the two divisions? There are no more suitable candidates than Zhang Yongde and Li Zhongjin.Please see, one of these two is Guo Wei's son-in-law and the other is Guo Wei's nephew. They are of similar ability, similar in age, and even have similar qualifications. Who else are they?What's more, it's very strange that the well-known honest man Zhang Yongde also has a special little problem, which is destined to make these two people who shouldn't be enemies quickly turn against each other and achieve Guo Wei's goal... Zhang Yongde has several faces. He is very respectful and obedient to his superiors, which can be said to be loyal; he is also kind and generous to his subordinates, very virtuous; It becomes narrow-minded and fights for every centimeter.

Li Chongjin's conditions are so ideal, everything is met, everything is up to standard, there is no such a good match anymore.Therefore, Zhang Yongde took every possible opportunity to whisper in Chai Rong's ear. Even when Huainan Jiangbei was fighting with the Southern Tang Dynasty, he didn't make Li Chongjin feel good. The most serious one, in November 956 AD, he actually sent envoys to Beijing to play Chai Rong with a "secret form", saying that Li Chongjin had "evil intentions".What does this make Chai Rong do?The horses have to run, but they cannot bite each other.It's difficult, Chai Rong's final reaction is neither to believe nor to pursue, let alone mediate.

He used a strong attitude to let both sides understand, work honestly and don't make trouble.But even if you want to make trouble, the emperor doesn't care, as long as you dare! But the atmosphere on the battlefield still changed. The soldiers supported the general and became hostile to each other.At this time, Li Chongjin was acting very manly. He left all his subordinates in the barracks, and came to see Zhang Yongde alone. The two of them had a drink in Zhang Yongde's territory, and they managed to overcome the crisis. But no matter what, Li Chongjin would not be so kind as to be forgetful. If he did not take revenge, it would affect his mental health! !

The opportunity will come eventually, Li Zhongjin did it ruthlessly. There is no one other than Zhang Yongde for "checking to be the emperor", and the most amazing thing is that Chai Rong will never ask Zhang Yongde about it. Even if Zhang Yongde knows about this, and Chai Rong is very angry, he dare not Take the initiative to explain... Just wait for Chai Rong to get angry and come to a comprehensive summary. This opportunity really let Zhang Yongde fight for it himself.There is really no way to do this, no wonder anyone, if Zhang Yongde regrets it afterwards, he can only say - it's hard to be a good person, you should seek death yourself. That was when Chai Rong retired from the army due to illness, and passed by Chanzhou, his original birthplace.Uncharacteristically, Chai Rong locked himself in the palace alone, thinking about his own thoughts silently.But after a long time, the ministers outside panicked. They didn't know whether the sick emperor was dead or alive! At this time, only Zhang Yongde could enter Chai Rong's palace to greet him, and the ministers asked him to bring a message to the emperor—the world has not yet been completely settled, and there are enemies everywhere. This place is too far away from Feng. If something happens (" If there is something unavoidable", this means that if Chai Rong will die), the world will not necessarily belong to anyone! (Nai Zongmiao He!) Zhang Yongde thought for a while, and felt that these ministers were right and thoughtful.So he went in and told Chai Rong all these words. Chai Rong listened quietly, and then asked—who told you to say these words? (Who made you say this?) The honest man Zhang Yongde felt that the emperor was happy to hear this.Originally, these are good words for the sake of the emperor!And he couldn't plunder the beauty of others, so he directly admitted that it was the common idea of ​​all the ministers. (Yongde is willing to do this to the wishes of all the officials.) Chai Rong's next appearance made Zhang Yongde puzzled, and saw Chai Rong sizing him up for a long time, especially he became very interested in his face that he was too familiar with. After looking at it again and again, he finally sighed—— —I knew someone taught you to say this, but unfortunately, I think you are poor and not worthy of being rich! (However, seeing how poor you are, you deserve this!) After speaking, Chai Rong immediately got up and returned to the capital. From then on, Chai Rong completely despaired of Zhang Yongde.He is no longer worried about the wooden stick of "checking to become the emperor", such a person who has no scheming and simple mind, who is directly used as a gun by others and asks the emperor about life and death is nothing to be afraid of.Not only that, but I can't entrust this person with the important affairs behind me, this person can't bear the trust... But abandoning Zhang Yongde, who can entrust it to? Li Chongjin? Chai Rong smiled wryly. If Zhang Yongde still had a little compassion and could not kill his youngest son, then Li Chongjin's fierce bloodthirsty made him sleepless.It is impossible to let Li Chongjin stay in the capital, and talk about the important matter of handing over to Tuogu! Zhang and Li failed, so who else could be next... Later, people all over the world knew that under Zhang and Li, the lucky one was Zhao Kuangyin.But for Zhao Kuangyin, the thirty-three-year-old commander of the Hou Zhou Palace, the news brought him far less joy than shock. Hi, joy comes from the sky, think about it, jumping from the commander of the capital to the inspector of the capital, it seems that you have only been promoted by one level, but it is so close to the world, from the second in command of the national army to the first in command, it is an incredible step for many people in their lives. The threshold of not passing, and he has easily crossed the threshold at such a young age, how can it not make people happy? But the shock, the same shocking.It must be known that no one on the next week's side will make any great contributions to this expedition to Youzhou.There was no battle at all, and the 18,000 households in the three passes and three prefectures were suppressed and surrendered by the might of the emperor and the power of thousands of troops. The credit belongs to all the officers and soldiers, and Zhao Kuangyin can't be counted. But now the biggest prize fell on Zhao Kuangyin's head out of thin air. For ordinary people, they can celebrate with wine, but for a smart person like Zhao Kuangyin, this title should be regarded as a big brick, which is unreasonable. If you fall, your head will be smashed. Alas, wealth and wealth come from dangers, and it is a risk to go to the battlefield with a knife and cut people down. It is also frightening to go back to the capital to get promoted and make a fortune... How obvious, this is a change of official position due to political needs, and there is a lot of mystery in it. Yes, scholars of later generations, in this fog-like mystery, based on the principle of whoever commits a crime, benefits, also came to the insider analysis report that the instigator behind Zhang Yongde's life-long knocking down by a three-foot wooden stick was Zhao Kuangyin.Those who hold this point of view are mainly Zhang Qifan's "Zhao Pu Commentary: The Commander of the Chenqiao Mutiny" and Taiwanese scholar Jiang Fucong's "Review of a National Policy in the Song Dynasty" and other articles.According to them, Zhao Kuangyin was the mysterious carpenter for four reasons: 1. Zhao Kuangyin was Zhang Yongde's subordinate before. Although his strength should not be underestimated, it is far away and basically hopeless to squeeze out Zhang Yongde and replace him with his position.Because his hardware is not good enough, he is not a relative of the emperor, and the imperial army is the lifeline of the country's security. How can he reach the sky in one step as a young outsider?With his military exploits and bravery?The stronger you are in this kind of thing, the less you dare to use you.Otherwise, why not choose Li Chongjin? So Zhao Kuangyin can only use some tricks to get out of Zhang Yongde's shadow and become completely independent. 2. In the year of 959 AD, the privy envoy Wang Pu died, and the emperor Chai Rong was seriously ill, which made Zhao Kuangyin's ambition extremely inflated, and made him have unreasonable ideas, and Zhang Yongde was his first stumbling block. I had to kick it away as soon as possible, so I became a carpenter for a while. 3. Use this vague and inexplicable method to bring down Zhang Yongde, and at the same time lay the theoretical groundwork for his future success, killing two birds with one stone. 4. During Chai Rong's Northern Expedition, Zhao Kuangyin led the army to guard the left and right, so there was a lot of opportunity for manipulation.Therefore, Jiang Fucong clearly pointed out that it is no wonder that the three-foot tree came, and the replacement was Taizu (Zhao Kuangyin), isn't there a great suspicion? I think the above four questions will resonate widely, because in any case, Zhao Kuangyin is really the final beneficiary.But it is a pity, in summary, there are many flaws, please see the rebuttals one by one: 1. Even if Zhang Yongde is eliminated, the beneficiary may not necessarily be Zhao Kuangyin.There are many people in the army who are more qualified than him and have made great contributions.Presumably Zhao Kuangyin didn't have much interest in making wedding clothes for others with this kind of destructive trick. 2. According to the records in "Old History of the Five Dynasties Zhou Shizong Benji" and "Song History Taizu Benji", this piece of wood with the words "Check to be the Son of Heaven" appeared before "Sejong Buyu".At that time, Zhao Kuangyin tried his best to perform well to attract Chai Rong's attention, just to be a good employee of Hou Zhou.Moreover, with the strength of Chai Rong, at the age of thirty-three, Zhao Kuangyin, who had just started the road to wealth and wealth, dared to expand his ambitions, and used such dangerous tricks to plot rebellion. I really don't know what Zhao Kuangyin thought. In the past, Zhao Kuangyin charged into battle, and often turned defeat into victory when he was bound to lose or die. Is this a sign that he must cherish his body when he is the emperor?And in order to get a good job for Chai Rong, he even locked his sick father outside the city to drink a night of cold wind... It would be really unkind to say that about him. 3. Zhao Kuangyin stayed close to Chai Rong's Northern Expedition, but as a general, it was so easy for him to tamper with the documents written to the emperor from all directions?That was not a thin letter written on paper, it was a wooden board more than three feet long!According to historical records, Chai Rong was very shrewd and did everything by himself. Zhao Kuangyin dared to do such tricks, he was really tired of work! Therefore, before Chai Rong's death, Zhao Kuangyin had no intention of usurping, that's for sure.People can only sing which songs they go to, and if they sing wrong, they will only die.Of course, there are also those ghosts who don't know how to die, and they will commit crimes no matter what the situation is, but if it is the same for Zhao Kuangyin, who is known for his reason and generosity, then there is really nothing to say. Before he died, he promoted Zhao Kuangyin. This was Chai Rong's meaningful move and his brilliant idea to maintain the balance of power in the court.It's just that he made a mistake that a smart person would easily make - trying to figure out all the tricks. This is a mistake that all intelligent people will make, and it can also be said that it is a mistake that all human beings, including you, will make. In order to survive, who does not count?But who can really count all the organs? Chai Rong and even later Zhao Kuangyin copied the tragedy on this.There is no way, the person who counts people keeps counting, what comes and goes, the way of heaven is always easy to pay back.