Chapter 9 Downsizing is not an easy task

After pacifying Xiasui, Xichuan, and Zhenhai, Emperor Xianzong Li Chun set his heavy sights on the northeast border of the empire, where there were three towns in Hebei—Lulong (originally called Youzhou), Chengde, and Weibo. Since the Anshi Rebellion, the three towns in Hebei, together with Huaixi (later called Zhangyi) and Pinglu (also called Ziqing) in Henan, have constituted the confidant of Li and Tang Central Committee.Not only are they powerful, they have been separated for a long time, and they are mutual aid, forming an alliance against the central government whenever there is trouble.For so many years, they enjoy their own taxation, their positions are hereditary, everything is self-professional, and they are basically in a semi-independent state.

If such a feudal town is not cleaned up, what prestige does the imperial court have?What is the peace of the empire? However, it is by no means easy to clean up this old domineering feudal town. Xianzong could only wait patiently for the opportunity. In February of the fourth year of Yuanhe (809 A.D.), Wang Shizhen (son of Wang Wujun), the envoy of Chengde Jiedu, died, and his son Wang Chengzong became the heir apparent.Xianzong's first reaction was to refuse to admit it, and the central government would appoint another Jiedu envoy; if Wang Chengzong refused to obey, he would take this opportunity to launch a crusade.

In fact, as early as three years ago, when Li Shigu (the son of Li Na) died of illness and his younger brother Li Shidao made himself the deputy envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, Emperor Xianzong wanted to take Li Shidao to break the "father's rule". The hereditary system of vassals and towns, but because the imperial court was using troops against Liu Pi at that time, it was unable to take care of it, so it had to appoint Li Shidao as the queen against his will. Although forced to admit Li Shidao due to the situation, Emperor Xianzong still took over the taxation rights and the appointment and dismissal rights of officials in Pinglu Town.Moreover, Xianzong had already made up his mind at that time. After Liu Pi was put down, no matter which feudal town dared to implement the hereditary system again, the imperial court would never tolerate it.

Therefore, when the news came that Wang Chengzong had established himself as the empress, Xianzong immediately put forward his ideas to the prime minister, intending to take this opportunity to cut down the vassal. However, Pei Ji, who was the prime minister at the time, expressed his opposition. Pei Jie believes that during the reign of Emperor Dezong, Li Na (grandfather of Li Shidao), the governor of Pinglu, was one of the most "imperious" feudal towns, while Wang Wujun (grandfather of Wang Chengzong), the governor of Chengde, was more or less Less "contributing to the country"; but since the court recognized Li Shidao a few years ago, what reason is there to reject Wang Chengzong now?If he insists on depriving him of his inheritance rights, I am afraid that not only Wang Chengzong will not accept it, but all the vassals in the world will think that the court is unfair.

Xianzong also felt that what Pei Jie said made sense, so he had to put the matter on hold for the time being.However, Emperor Xianzong was still unwilling to give up after much deliberation, and then summoned several of his most trusted Hanlin scholars, hoping to hear their opinions, and it is best to get their support. However, Xianzong was again disappointed. Because Li Jiang, a Hanlin scholar, and others also raised objections. Li Jiang said: "The towns in Hebei have not obeyed the central government for a long time. This matter is certainly resentful, but I am afraid it will not be possible to get rid of their hereditary disadvantages. Since Li Baochen and Wang Wujun, Chengde has been inherited from father to son. For more than forty years, both the hearts of the people and the hearts of the army have been used to it, and they do not think that self-reliance is a violation of discipline. What's more, Wang Chengzong has actually taken over the military and political power, and he will definitely not obey the court's arrangements. Furthermore, Lu Long, Wei Bo, Pinglu and other towns have always passed the throne to their children, and they have the same interests as Chengde. If they see that the imperial court appoints another Jiedu envoy, they will definitely form an alliance in secret. In addition, the floods in the Jianghuai area are currently serious, and the country's finances and people's livelihood are very difficult. I am afraid it is not appropriate Lightly start the battle."

Xianzong was speechless. There are so many reasons for opposing the reduction of feudal vassals, what else can he say?Even if he was very upset, he could only face the reality helplessly. When Xianzong was at a loss, someone suddenly stood up and strongly supported his intention to cut down the vassal, and volunteered to lead troops to crusade against Wang Chengzong. The man's name was Tutu Chengcui, he was an eunuch, and he was the lieutenant of Zuo Shence at that time. It is conceivable that the person who can become the leader of the Forbidden Army is definitely not an ordinary cat or dog.Although this person is not very old, he has entered the palace since he was a child, and has been serving the prince Li Chun in the East Palace. He can be regarded as a senior eunuch, and this kid is quick-witted and shrewd, so he is deeply favored by Li Chun.After Li Chun ascended the throne, he was immediately promoted to the chief eunuch and general of Zuo Jianmen, and soon he was promoted to lieutenant of Zuo Shence.

Tutu Chengcui was able to stand up and support the cutting of the feudal clan at this critical moment, which really pleased Xianzong and gave him a little confidence in the matter of cutting the feudal clan.But the problem is that the prime minister Pei Ji and the Hanlin scholar Li Jiang have always disliked eunuchs. If Tutu Chengcui is really allowed to lead the army, will these civil servants have troubles? Xianzong felt that the possibility was very high. Therefore, even though Tutu Chengcui's ambitions are commendable, Xianzong is still a little hesitant. In order to get rid of this dilemma, Xianzong decided to find an opportunity to test the attitude of the ministers on the issue of appointing Tutu Chengcui as commander-in-chief.

Interestingly, as soon as Xianzong came up with this idea, a courtier named Li Mo handed over a memorial, saying: "Wang Chengzong must be crusaded! Tutu Chengcui is a close confidant of His Majesty, and he can completely hand over the military power to Him, let him command the armies to go out and see who dares to refuse!" Obviously, it is no coincidence that Li Shi gave this memorial at this time. He had figured out Xianzong's mind, so he wanted to use this memorial to flatter Tu Tu Chengcui, the official, and Li Chun, the emperor. Xianzong looked at the memorial, with a treacherous smile on his face.

On the same day, he showed the memorial to the prime minister and Hanlin scholars, and said: "Look at this treacherous minister, he already knew that I planned to hand over the military power to Tutu Chengcui, so he hurriedly presented this memorial. From now on, this person must not be promoted or appointed." Li Bo never expected that his whole life's wealth and future would be lost by the slapstick of this smart-ass flatterer. God, earth, where did I go wrong? It's very simple, your mistake is that you are too "smart", so smart that Xianzong saw through your speculative face at a glance, so he is quite contemptuous of you.

However, this is not the main reason. The main reason is that Xianzong had to use you, Li Bo, as an example, so that he could bring up the matter of granting Tutu Chengcui military power by the way, so as to test the reaction of the ministers without any trace. This is where Xianzong is brilliant.If he didn't do this, but just took the memorials to ask the ministers for their opinions, then he would be too mentally handicapped. In short, Xianzong's purpose was nothing more than to conduct a fire reconnaissance, so he conveniently used Li Mo as a gunman.Therefore, if you want to blame, you can only blame Li Mo for being clever but being mistaken by cleverness, not Xianzong for being unkind.

To Xianzong's surprise, Pei Ji, Li Jiang and others barely responded to his "fire reconnaissance". There can only be two explanations for non-response: one is acquiescing, and the other is pretending not to notice it, and responding to all changes with the same. In Xianzong's view, the latter is more likely. Although he realized that the ministers would jump out to object sooner or later, Xianzong was unwilling to wait.Right now, he still has to seize the time to prepare for the reduction of the feudal clan. So a few days later, Xianzong appointed a man named Lu Congshi. This person originally served as Jiedushi of Zhaoyi (now in Shanxi). Ding You resigned because of his father's death a few years ago, and then stayed at home for a long time without a chance to come back.This time, Lu Congshi heard that Emperor Xianzong wanted to cut down the vassal, and he might start a war with Hebei at any time, so he hurried back to Chang'an, spent a lot of money to get through the relationship between Tutu and Chengcui, and expressed his willingness to lead the army of this town (Zhaoyi) to fight as a The forward of Tutu Chengcui went through fire and water for the court, vowing to crusade against Wang Chengzong to the death. Tutu Chengcui immediately recommended it to Emperor Xianzong.Without hesitation, Emperor Xianzong immediately appointed Lu Congshi as General Zuo Jinwu, and restored his past positions. Obviously, Xianzong was determined to take Chengde's Wang Chengzong under the knife. However, the matter of reducing the vassal is no trivial matter, and must be considered comprehensively from political, military, and financial aspects, and it cannot be decided with a slap of the head or a slap of the chest.Therefore, after much deliberation, Xianzong finally decided to make two-handed preparations—before resorting to war, try to use political means to solve the problem. Even if political means are useless in the end, it can still win the reason for the court to send troops and increase justice. chips. In short, it is four words: courtesy first and soldiers later. In July of this year, Emperor Xianzong summoned Li Jiang and others, and said: "As for the issue of Chengde, I have thought of a compromise. It is fine to appoint Wang Chengzong as the posthumous candidate, but the Dezhou (Dezhou) under his jurisdiction must be appointed. Today's Shandong Ling County) and Dizhou (now Shandong Huimin County) were separated, and another town was set up to weaken his power, and he was ordered to pay two taxes to the court from then on, just like Li Shidao of Pinglu. They are all appointed by the court. What do you think?" Li Jiang opposed Xianzong's practice of dividing the two states of De and Di. He believed that doing so would inevitably arouse the rebellion of the towns in Hebei. However, Li Jiang put forward a more secure suggestion regarding tax collection and appointment of officials.He said: "You can send an envoy to express condolences to Wang Shizhen, and then let the envoy propose to Wang Chengzong in his own name, so as not to let him know that this is His Majesty's intention. If he agrees, that is of course best. It will not discredit the imperial court." At the beginning of August, Emperor Xianzong sent Jingzhao Shao Yin Peiwu to Chengde to comfort him. Xianzong partially adopted Li Jiang's suggestion, that is, let the envoys negotiate with Wang Chengzong in his own name, but Xianzong specifically told Pei Wu that the content of the negotiation should not only include the right to tax collection and the right to appoint and dismiss officials, but also let Wang Chengzong cede the rights of Germany, Di Erzhou. As if to test Xianzong's determination and patience, during August and September of this year, Lulong Jiedu envoy Liu Ji (son of Liu Ting), Wei Bo Jiedu envoy Tian Ji'an (son of Tian Xu), Huaixi Jiedu envoy Wu Shaocheng unexpectedly Invariably fell ill. The thing is obvious - once these people die, their children will inevitably stand on their own, and the drama of strong clan hereditary will be staged again. Immediately, Xianzong couldn't wait to say to Li Jiang and others: "Liu Ji and his group are about to die. Can the court just let their son succeed as usual? If so, when will the world be peaceful? Now there are a lot of discussions between the government and the public. It is said that we should take this opportunity to bring power back to the central government, and if they disobey, we will send a large army to attack! The opportunity cannot be missed, what do you think?" Li Jiang and others knew that Xianzong's determination to cut down the vassal seemed to be beyond hope, and the current situation in the vassal town was indeed disturbing.Under such circumstances, sooner or later there must be a battle between the imperial court and these powerful vassals in Henan and Hebei. Therefore, the question now is not whether this battle should be fought, but how should it be fought?Who do you fight first, and who do you fight next? In response to this problem, after careful consideration, Li Jiang and several other Hanlin scholars quickly proposed a strategy of first easy and then difficult, and first south and then north. They believed that the situation of the feudal vassals in Hebei was completely different from that of Xichuan and Zhenhai, and they should not be dazzled by the victory at that time.Because Xichuan and Zhenhai are not long-term separatist places, and the surrounding provinces are all within the control of the imperial court. Liu Pi and Li Qi were frantic and launched a rebellion without authorization. Most of the people actually did not obey, so when the imperial army arrived, they Immediately fell apart.However, the situation in the towns in Hebei is quite different. Their internal forces are deeply rooted, while their external forces are intertwined like vines.They will not listen to persuasion with kind words; they will not accept threats of force.If the imperial court takes coercive measures against them, the result will be unpredictable.Don't look at the intrigues of the towns in Hebei on weekdays, once the imperial court wants to break their hereditary system, they will immediately huddle together and desperately protect the interests of the same children and grandchildren. Therefore, Li Jiang and others strongly advocated that the court should temporarily recognize Wang Chengzong, adopt a policy of appeasement to the towns in Hebei, and then focus on dealing with Wu Shaocheng in Huaixi. The reason for this is that the situation in Huaixi is different from Hebei, but similar to Xichuan and Zhenhai, and the surrounding areas are all states and counties that are loyal to the imperial court.Therefore, as soon as Wu Shaocheng died, the imperial court could immediately appoint another Jiedu envoy.First pacify Huaixi, and when Liu Ji and Tian Ji'an in Hebei die, there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, and it will not be too late for the court to take action. It should be said that the strategic concept proposed by Li Jiang and others is well thought out and feasible.If there are no accidents, it is entirely possible for the Xianzong court to follow this strategy to level the two rivers and powerful vassals step by step. However, there are always surprises. This accident happened to Wang Chengzong of Chengde. After Wang Chengzong declared self-reliance, he has not been appointed by the court, so he repeatedly expressed his explanation in anxiety.It was not until mid-August of this year that the court envoy Pei Wu belatedly brought him the emperor's edict.Of course, Pei Wu also brought some "personal suggestions" that are beneficial to both parties. Wang Chengzong was overjoyed, and immediately said: "I was persecuted by the army, so I did not have time to wait for the imperial court's will to stand on my own. Now please let me offer up the two states of De and Di to show my sincerity." The transaction between the two parties has thus been concluded.In September, Emperor Xianzong officially appointed Wang Chengzong as Chengde Jiedu envoy, and at the same time appointed Xue Changchao, governor of Dezhou, as Baoxin Army Jiedu envoy, and concurrently as the observation envoy of Dezhou and Dizhou. Such a result is basically satisfied by the court and Wang Chengzong, and it seems that everyone is happy.However, one person was very unhappy. He is Tian Ji'an, the envoy of Weibo Jiedu. Xianzong had just released Xue Changchao's letter of appointment, and Tian Ji'an got the news in time through the court's eyeliner.He felt that what the imperial court did was obviously cutting down the feudal clan in a disguised form - since one or two states can be cut off in Chengde today, why can't two or three states be cut off in Weibo tomorrow?If it continues like this, what will the towns in Hebei have to compete with the central government? no.Tian Ji'an thought, the court must not be allowed to start this way, and Wang Chengzong, a young man of the younger generation, must not be allowed to break the decades-old rules. He immediately sent someone to tell Wang Chengzong in private: "Do you know who this Xue Changchao is? Do you think he must be yours because he is your subordinate? Wrong, big mistake! Let me tell you—this Xue Changchao has long been He has an affair with the imperial court, otherwise why should he be this Jiedu envoy and observer?" When Wang Chengzong heard it, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it became, and the more he thought about it, the more unpleasant it became. He immediately sent someone to arrest Xue Changchao, and took him to Zhending (Chengdezhi Office, the county where Hengzhou is located) and locked him up. When the imperial eunuch passed through Weizhou with Xue Changchao's letter of appointment and Jiedu envoy's banner, Tian Ji'an deliberately entertained the envoy with hospitality, and kept the envoy behind for several days of feasting.As a result, by the time the imperial eunuchs arrived in Dezhou, Xue Changchao had already become Wang Chengzong's prisoner. Xianzong was furious.Unexpectedly, if he took a step back, Wang Chengzong would gain an inch instead, so he immediately sent an order ordering Wang Chengzong to release Xue Changchao. Wang Chengzong refused to obey. Things just froze.The illusion of happiness that both parties had worked so hard to create was completely shattered at this moment. Xianzong couldn't bear it. Since political means cannot solve the problem, it can only resort to force. A great battle broke out in the anger of the emperor...