Chapter 20 Hebei is ready to move

When we say that Mu Zong Li Heng is by no means a wise master, we are not wronging him.Because his various performances after he came to power are really unflattering, and it also surprised the subjects who were once optimistic about him. At the beginning of February in the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, Li Heng just took off his mourning clothes for Emperor Xianzong, and impatiently devoted himself to a series of entertainment activities such as advocating talents, miscellaneous operas, banquets and hunting.The admonishers repeatedly advised him to exercise restraint, but the new emperor turned a deaf ear to him.

While indulging in sensuality, Li Heng spent money like water.As long as he is willing, he will reward those advocating excellent actors with a lot of gold and silk anytime and anywhere.The counselors Zheng Tan, Cui Yan and others couldn't stand it anymore, so they joined the cabinet together to persuade them, saying: "Gold, silver, silk and satin are the blood and sweat of the people, and unless they have made meritorious service to the country, they should not be rewarded indiscriminately. Although the palace treasury currently has There is a surplus, but please cherish it, Your Majesty, in case war breaks out again in the future, we can no longer impose heavy taxes on the people."

Li Heng stared at them for a while, and suddenly asked the prime minister in surprise, "Who are these people?" The prime minister quickly replied, "It's the admonisher." This scene of "the king doesn't know his ministers" happened when Li Heng had been on the throne for more than nine months.But because the emperor spends most of his time focusing on entertainment, he has no time to get to know his courtiers. In order to express his gratitude to the admonitors for their outspoken advice, Li Heng then sent someone to comfort them, saying: "I will do as you say." Xianzong's early years were still very similar, that is, to accept advice with an open mind and to be kind.

This is the blessing of the country and the luck of the ministers!So they congratulated the emperor one after another. But they soon discovered that they were wrong. Because the emperor Li Heng's attitude towards remonstrance is-accept it with an open mind and never change it. From Li Heng's accession to the throne until his death, entertainment activities have never stopped, and the problem of excessive rewards has not changed at all. In October of the 15th year of Yuanhe, Chengde Jiedu envoy Wang Chengzong died of illness, and the generals kept the funeral secret, and supported his younger brother Wang Chengyuan to take over the military and political power.

The feudal vassals in Hebei, who had been honest in the hands of Xianzong for a while, began to move again. But the young Emperor Mu Zong had neither the ambition nor the sense of urgency that Xianzong had back then, nor did he possess the tough methods of Xianzong. Therefore, the Mu Zong court at this time could only guard against potential dangers within a limited range. On October 16, under the planning of the prime ministers, Mu Zong and Li Heng issued multiple appointment letters at the same time, and implemented a large-scale personnel transfer to the major feudal towns.Tune Weibo Tian Hongzheng as Chengde Jiedu envoy; appoint Chengde Wang Chengyuan as Yicheng Jiedu envoy; adjust Yicheng Liu Wu as Zhaoyi Jiedu envoy; transfer Wuning Li Yan as Wei Bo Jiedu envoy; Son) is Heyang Jiedushi.

The reason why the Muzong court made this decision is very obvious, that is, to cut off the interests and emotional bonds between the town generals and the town soldiers, thereby weakening the absolute control over the original jurisdiction of the Jiedushi and eliminating the self-respect of the soldiers. , disobedience to imperial orders, all self-defeating and other hidden dangers. The move is a conventional political maneuver.It should be said that the Mu Zong court formulated this coping strategy with a lot of brains, and it is understandable.Because under normal circumstances, this method is indeed an effective way to strengthen centralization and prevent local governments from becoming big.

But the problem is that since the Anshi Rebellion, the affairs of the empire's vassals and towns have long been no longer a general problem, otherwise Daizong and Dezong would not have been exhausted by this problem.Therefore, trying to solve unconventional political problems through conventional political means may result in old problems not being resolved and new contradictions being stimulated. The cost is likely to be more severe than maintaining the status quo and doing nothing. However, Mu Zong Liheng, who is passionate about entertainment, can't see this at all. It's another new year in a blink of an eye.On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Mu Zong announced an amnesty for the world and changed the Yuan to Changqing.

From this reign, it is not difficult to see the optimism of the Muzong court.Li Heng and his ministers believed that the Yuanhe era was enough to lay a foundation for the empire's long-term stability, but they did not expect that the rebellious Hebei would not easily submit to it-as long as there is a spark, the land of Yanzhao will be destroyed. There will be a raging war again. In fact, since the last years of Emperor Xianzong, the sunshine of "Yuanhe Zhongxing" has gradually faded.At this moment, the sky over the empire is already clouded. In hindsight, the wave of rebellion among the vassals in Hebei was triggered by an accidental event.

In the spring of this year, an unexpected news suddenly came from Youzhou——Lulong Jiedu envoy Mr. Liu was about to become a monk. It happened so suddenly that both the government and the opposition felt a little unbelievable. Even the devil who murdered his father and brother, usurped the throne and seized power, actually wanted to put down his butcher knife and become a Buddha right away?is it possible? But this matter is absolutely true, because Mr. Liu himself put it on the list. It is said that after Mr. Liu killed his father and brother, he was always paranoid and had terrible hallucinations more than once, seeing the bloody ghosts of his father and brother asking for his life.Mr. Liu couldn't sleep or eat well, so he supported hundreds of monks in the mansion, doing rituals day and night.And every day when he came back from the military mansion, Mr. Liu would huddle among the monks and chant scriptures and Buddha with them, so that he felt at ease.But once alone at night, he would still be frightened and afraid to sleep.Over time, Mr. Liu suffered from severe phobias and neurasthenia.In the end, Mr. Liu had to make up his mind - if he wanted to save his life, he had to go home.

Regarding this matter, the Muzong court held a very cautious attitude. It's not that Mu Zong and his ministers don't want to take this opportunity to completely bring Lu Long back to the central government, but because this matter is too unexpected, and they don't know what kind of medicine is sold in Mr. Liu's gourd.Therefore, Mu Zong did not dare to agree to Mr. Liu's request right away, but carefully issued an edict, appointing Mr. Liu as the governor of Tianping (the governing place of Yunzhou, today's Dongping County, Shandong), in order to test Mr. Liu's reaction.

However, Mu Zong was too worried.Because Mr. Liu is the bastard eating the weights this time - he is determined. He repeatedly expressed to Mu Zong, with sincere words and sincere attitude, saying that he must become a monk, and he voluntarily gave up his house as a temple.Only then did Mu Zong let go of his hanging heart, and issued an edict to give Mr. Liu the name of Dajue, the name of the temple to repay his kindness, and a set of purple monk clothes.But at the same time, Mu Zong still ordered someone to send the Jingjie ax and the monk's clothes from Tianping Town, which meant that he was allowed to choose. If he regretted it, he could go to Tianping Town to take office at any time. Before the imperial envoy and imperial edict arrived, Mr. Liu, who was very determined to go, had already shaved his head.The soldiers in Youzhou forcibly retained him and refused to let him go.Mr. Liu killed more than a dozen people in a fit of rage, and then left the seal and talisman festival of the Jiedu envoy to the new empress Liu, and fled Youzhou overnight.It wasn't until dawn the next day that the soldiers discovered that Mr. Liu had disappeared. A few days later, someone reported that a monk's body was found in Dingzhou. It was confirmed that it was Mr. Liu. No one knows how Mr. Liu died, but one thing is for certain—Mr. Liu has made all arrangements for Lu Long's funeral, and has not left a mess to the court. Before he died, Mr. Liu gave a memorial to the court, proposing a plan to split Lu Long into three, and recommended three candidates for leaving the town.Zhang Hongjing, the envoy of Xuanwu Jiedu at that time, was once the prime minister of the Xianzong Dynasty. When he came out of the town of Hedong, the political atmosphere was mild and popular, and he was popular among the people; At that time, he was the agent of Jing Zhaoyin. Although this person was a relative of Mr. Liu's wife, he had been serving in the court, and he could be regarded as a trustworthy person in the court. In addition, Mr. Liu also sent all the brave and unstoppable generals under his command to Chang'an, promising them on the surface that the imperial court would give them salary positions, but in fact he put them under the imperial court's control among. These arrangements made by Mr. Liu before his death were completely in line with the interests of the Li and Tang Central Committee, and it should be said that they provided the court with an opportunity that could be met but not sought after.As long as Mu Zong and his advisers seize this opportunity, the binding force and influence of the Li and Tang Central Committee on the Hebei feudal towns will be greatly enhanced, and it is even possible to expand the results of the war on the basis of "Yuanhe Zhongxing" and to completely eradicate the feudal towns. Pave the way. However, for the current Li Tang court headed by Mu Zong Li Heng, all this is doomed to be nothing but fantasy. Because Li Heng has no interest in the political affairs of the empire at all, let alone any lofty ambitions and aspirations. He cares more about women, prostitution, and fine wine. Cui Zhi and Du Yuanying, who were prime ministers at the time, were not much better.As prime ministers, they lacked foresight and foresight, nor did they have the insight to be prepared for danger in times of peace. They were very different from Pei Du, Wu Yuanheng and others back then. In dealing with Lu Long, they made two fatal mistakes in a row—— First of all, they did not fully implement the painstaking plan proposed by Mr. Liu, but just divided Lulong into two states, and handed over two of the states to Lu Shimei, and then handed over most of the remaining Lulong to Zhang Hongjing. The reason is said to be out of respect for the former prime minister.But they didn't realize a serious problem. When Zhang Hongjing came out of the town of Hedong, although he had quite a lot of political achievements, Hedong was Li Tang's prosperous place. The army and the people have always supported the imperial court, which is completely different from Hebei, which was always separatist. Moreover, Zhang Hongjing lacks understanding of all aspects of Lulong's situation. Without someone like Xue Ping, who is familiar with Heshuo scholars and people's customs, to coordinate governance, he alone will definitely not be able to control those in Youzhou. Proud soldier. Secondly, Cui Zhi and Du Yuanying didn't pay attention to the soldiers from Youzhou at all, and they didn't fulfill the promise Mr. Liu made to these people at all.Not only did these soldiers who came from afar not get any rewards and appointments, but every time they went to Zhongshu Province to seek an official, they would be rejected and ignored by the prime ministers.What's more, when Zhang Hongjing took office in Lulong, the imperial court thought that the situation was stable, so they actually issued an order to expel them, ordering them to return to their own army and wait for dispatch. Therefore, these soldiers who were regarded as outcasts by the court had no choice but to return to Youzhou full of anger. Mu Zong and his prime ministers did not expect that what they did was tantamount to letting the tiger go back to the mountain. Soon, they will pay for their stupidity.