Chapter 21 Li Linfu scared himself to death

Looking at Li Linfu's nineteen-year prime minister's career, it can be roughly divided into three stages: The first stage belongs to the period of "early emergence", which lasted from the 22nd to the 24th year of Kaiyuan. The period of "fixing power and maintaining position" roughly lasted from the 24th year of Kaiyuan to the 5th year of Tianbao. A group of political opponents who pose a threat to him firmly hold the power under one person and over ten thousand people; the third stage belongs to the period of "power smothering the sky", which lasts roughly from the fifth year of Tianbao to the eleventh year of Tianbao.

That is to say, almost from the moment when Li Shizhi stepped down and Chen Xilie entered the prime minister, his power gradually reached its peak. Chen Xilie, a native of Suiyang County (now Shangqiu City, Henan Province), was recommended by Li Linfu, and became Prime Minister in April of the fifth year of Tianbao with the title of servant.This person is proficient in the learning of Lao and Zhuang, he is gentle and modest, and he only uses the words of the god Fu Rui to please the emperor, but he has no extraordinary talent.After Chen Xilie became the prime minister, he really became the second of Niu Xianke, and he obeyed Li Linfu, "political affairs are decided by Lin Fu". (Volume 215)

According to the old rules, the prime minister must not leave work until 6:30 pm (1:30 pm) every day when he works in the court.Li Linfu has also been strictly abiding by this commute system before, and has never been late or left early.It's not that he is very dedicated, but because he doesn't feel at ease if he doesn't stay in the court, he is afraid that other prime ministers will take over the government privately and make him empty.But ever since Chen Xilie came in the fifth year of Tianbao, Li Linfu was completely at ease. He sent a report to Xuanzong, claiming that the world is peaceful now, and he doesn't have to stay in the court all the time.

From then on, Li Linfu went back home at six o'clock every day (ten o'clock in the morning), and ordered the three provinces and six ministries to send all important military and state affairs directly to his house, and then he worked at home, approved all the documents, and finally asked the relevant officials to take them to his house. Chen Xilie looked over.Of course, the only thing Chen Xilie could do was to sign Li Linfu's reply, so that he had completed the legal procedure of co-signing by the prime minister. At about the same time, Xuanzong's favor for Li Linfu reached an unprecedented level. He not only named Li Linfu as the third division of Kaifu Yitong, and gave food to 300 households in the town, but also gave the most superior mansions, farms, gardens, The villa, as well as various rare treasures in the world, were rewarded to him in large quantities, "Given back and forth, invincible." ("Old Tang Book Biography of Li Linfu")

In those few years, Li Linfu's power reached its peak.On days when he was not in court, all civil and military officials would rush to his home, busy asking for instructions and reporting to him, so that the main officials at all levels in Taiwan Province were generally not on duty, and Chen Xilie was often left sitting alone. In the chapel.In this regard, the "Old Tang Book" commented that Li Linfu "has been in power for a long time, and the authority of the world belongs to himself." At the end of the sixth year of Tianbao, when the Spring Festival was approaching, all the valuable tributes from counties and counties in the world arrived in Shangshu Province, and Xuanzong ordered all the civil and military officials to visit.But before everyone saw enough, Xuanzong suddenly waved his hand and ordered people to load all the tributes into cars and drag them all to Li Linfu's mansion.

All the officials looked at each other. I thought that the emperor invited them here to give out year-end benefits, but I didn't expect it to just let them experience their eye addiction. Isn't this playing with us?Your majesty, are you too partial? As the prime minister who served the longest in Xuanzong's dynasty, although Li Linfu appeared to be powerful and majestic, in fact his heart was always in a state of tension. Because in his eyes, this world is a jungle, and there are likely to be enemies hidden in every corner, and they may jump out to bite him at any time, so he must always be careful.

He always uses all means to wrap himself tightly until only a pair of eyes and a pair of nostrils are left, and then coldly peeps into every corner of the jungle, sniffing every dangerous breath carefully... In the middle and late stages of Tianbao, Li Linfu's son Li Xiu often had some ominous premonitions due to excessive power and favor and too many enemies.Once, when the father and son were walking in the back garden, Li Xiu suddenly pointed to the craftsmen and handymen who were busy repairing pavilions and pavilions, and said to Li Linfu worriedly: "My lord father, you have been in power for a long time, and the world is full of hatred. When disaster strikes, I’m afraid it’s not even possible to be a handyman like them.”

Li Linfu immediately showed displeasure on his face, and said: "The situation is already like this, what will happen?" (Volume 215) Li Linfu at this time would never have imagined that the words of his son Li Xiu would eventually become a prophecy.Because of too many grievances, Li Linfu is always worried that an assassin will assassinate him.So when traveling during the day, he would always bring more than a hundred infantry and cavalry to guard the left and right wings, and ordered the Jinwu Guards patrolling the capital to clear the way in advance. Hurry up and avoid it, let alone ordinary people.

Because he is often in a state of alertness, Li Linfu is not only nervous during the day, but also has no mood to sleep at night. Every night, Li Linfu's mansion is surrounded by guard posts, and there are many doors, walls and secret passages in the mansion.Every night, Li Linfu had to sleep in several places, so that even his wife, concubine and children didn't know where he was.In other words, Li Linfu spent most of the night not sleeping, but changing beds, changing beds frequently. Li Linfu may be able to declare like this: every night, if I am not on this bed or that bed, or on the way from this bed to that bed...

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, many capable courtiers were first released as border commanders, and then entered the court as prime ministers after obtaining military exploits, especially in the reign of Xuanzong.Li Linfu realized very early on that if he did not seal off this channel of "going out and entering the prime minister", it would be difficult for him to control the government for a long time.Therefore, as early as the late Kaiyuan period, Li Linfu made a major personnel suggestion to Xuanzong. He said: "As generals, civil servants dare not take the lead in resisting the enemy's bows and arrows. It is better to use those Hu people from humble backgrounds as frontier generals. There are two advantages to doing this: first, the Hu people are brave and good at fighting, and are far more suitable for galloping on the battlefield than civil officials; If we can inspire them with kindness and righteousness, they will surely die for the court."

Xuanzong was delighted when he heard the words, and felt that what Li Linfu said was very reasonable, so he immediately adopted the suggestion.Therefore, from the end of the Kaiyuan period to the Tianbao period, a large number of Hu people were quickly promoted to high-ranking generals of the empire, and served as border town envoys one after another, becoming the chief officials of the frontier with heavy troops in their hands.Among them, in addition to Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan and others, there is another important figure who is about to rewrite the history of the Tang Dynasty, of course An Lushan. Before Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, in order to guard against Hu generals, the Tang court usually used famous and respected ministers to control them.For example, the Turkic generals Ashinasheer, Qibi Heli, etc., although they were brave and good at fighting and loyal to the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court still did not entrust them with the task of generals, but "mostly used important officials to lead them to control them." ("Old Tang Book Biography of Li Linfu"), which shows the strict precautions against Hu people.In addition, the imperial court also had three unwritten rules restricting border marshals, namely: they cannot serve in one place for a long time, they cannot lead distant places in the middle of the court, and they cannot have one person govern multiple towns. It's like three ropes tied to Bian Shuai.With these three invisible ropes, the empire will not be in danger of being weak, and the court will not be in danger of being too big to drop. However, during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji personally untied the three ropes that bound Bianshuai. Since the late Kaiyuan period, there have been countless frontier generals who have served in one place for many years, and it is not uncommon for the prime ministers of the DPRK and China to lead distant places (such as Xiao Song, Niu Xianke, Li Linfu, etc.). It is even more common for those who also govern other towns (such as Wang Zhongsi, Ge Shuhan, An Lushan, etc.). It can be seen from this that it is precisely because of Li Linfu's selfishness and power-gathering, coupled with Tang Xuanzong's conceit and paralysis, that led to the dangerous situation of "every way of making use of barbarians, all the best soldiers are garrisoning the north, and the power of the world is heavy". This has caused a serious imbalance in the military power between the central and local governments—from "emphasis on home control over light" and "strong trunks and weak branches" to "external emphasis on internal light" and "strong branches and weak trunks"! In this sense, the culprits who caused the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion were undoubtedly Li Linfu and Tang Xuanzong. However, if it were not for Yang Guozhong's arbitrary power and disorderly administration, An Lushan would not have jumped the wall so quickly.In fact, during Li Linfu's administration, An Lushan had always respected and feared him, willing to bow down to him.Not to mention asking him to rebel, even if he was asked to fight against Li Linfu, I'm afraid he didn't have the determination and courage. An Lushan's appearance is rough and uninhibited, carefree, in fact, his heart is as thin as the tip of a needle, cunning and insidious.In terms of scheming, city government and strategy, none of the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty was valued by An Lushan, but Li Linfu was the only exception. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that Li Linfu is An Lushan's nemesis.Because An Lushan is cunning, Li Linfu is more cunning than him—"An Lushan thinks that Li Linfu is more cunning than himself, so he fears and obeys him." (Volume 216) To deal with people like An Lushan, Li Linfu naturally has his own means. Every time An Lushan entered the court, Li Linfu would kindly invite him to a gathering at his residence. The host and guest often exchanged views on topics of common concern, and the talks were always held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere.However, often when the host and the guest are talking happily, Li Linfu will always say a word or two abruptly.Just these one or two sentences often reveal a certain secret thought in An Lushan's heart in one fell swoop. Whenever this happens, the expression on An Lushan's face is always quite playful. Over time, An Lushan had to say in his heart——I convinced you. He finally had to admit that in front of Li Linfu, he was almost a translucent body. Since then, whenever the host and guest held friendly talks again, An Lushan was always trembling, feeling like sitting on pins and needles, and would even break out in cold sweat in the winter. (Volume 216: "Although it is winter, I often sweat on my clothes.") Of course, as a warm and considerate host, Li Linfu has always cared for his guests in every possible way.Whenever he sees An Lushan and sweats profusely for some reason, Li Linfu will always "caress with warmth" and "untie his robe and cover it", that is, take off his own robe and put it on An Lushan's body , sending him the warmth of spring. I don't know whether An Lushan felt warmer or colder after putting on the robe, anyway, his expression was quite flattered and grateful.Moreover, after putting on the robe for a while, An Lushan stopped treating himself as an outsider, and no longer called Li Linfu "my lord", but very affectionately called him "Shi Lang" (Li Linfu was ranked tenth). Since then, whenever An Lushan sent his subordinates to Beijing on business, he would always specially order his subordinates to come and see Shiro.After his subordinates returned, he would hurriedly ask, "What did Shiro say?" If Li Linfu gave him a few words of encouragement, An Lushan would dance with joy; if he heard his subordinates repeat Li Linfu's words: "Tell Dr. An, you must check yourself!" He would turn pale with fright and murmur Muttering to himself: "It's over, it's over, this time I'm dead!" In the last few years of Li Linfu's administration, he used this method of carrots and sticks to keep An Lushan in order.Basically, it can be said that as long as Li Linfu is in the aspect for a day, An Lushan will not dare to act rashly for a day. But in the last years of Tianbao, with Yang Guozhong's strong rise in the imperial political arena, the era when Li Linfu monopolized the court is gone forever... In the winter of the eleventh year of Tianbao (752 A.D.), Yang Guozhong became more and more popular, and his tendency to worship the prime minister was very obvious.While Li Linfu was thinking hard about how to deal with it, a battle report came from Jiannan Road, saying that the Nanzhao army had invaded many times.Li Linfu was overjoyed, and immediately invited Xuanzong to order Yang Guozhong to go out. Although Yang Guozhong was a soldier, he had never fought a war. If he was really asked to go to the border to command operations, even if he didn't put his life on the line, he would lose 100% of the time.Of course, Yang Guozhong, who wanted to be prime minister, didn't want to pick up this hot potato, so he told Xuanzong in tears that Li Linfu's suggestion to let him go to war was clearly to frame him.At the same time, Concubine Yang also repeatedly interceded for Yang Guozhong.Xuanzong hurriedly comforted him and said: "You go for a walk first and deploy the military defense. I will wait for you to come back. As soon as you come back, I will appoint you as prime minister!" With the promise of the emperor, Yang Guozhong finally took a reassurance, so he set off reluctantly.Knowing that Yang Guozhong's entry into prime minister was a foregone conclusion, Li Linfu was very worried, but he had nothing to do, and suddenly fell ill in panic. This political strongman who has dominated the power of the empire for many years has finally fallen irretrievably. When Yang Guozhong arrived in Jiannan, Xuanzong couldn't wait to call him back within a few days. As soon as he returned to court, Yang Guozhong heard that Li Linfu was too sick to get up.He was secretly happy, but at the same time he was full of suspicion. This old boy is full of tricks, could he be pretending to be sick and trying to deceive me? Yang Guozhong went to visit Li Linfu with extreme caution and doubts, and knelt down before his sick bed with extremely stiff movements.Li Linfu opened a pair of cloudy old eyes, stared at Yang Guozhong for a long time, and finally said weakly: "Lin Fu is dead, the public must be the prime minister, and the future will be tiring!" (Volume 216) I am about to die, you will definitely become the prime minister, and I will trouble you in the future! Yang Guozhong was furiously stared at by Li Linfu, but he still couldn't be sure that the old guy was really dying. "Don't dare to act, dare not act..." Yang Guozhong waved his hands again and again, sweating profusely, with an embarrassing expression on his face. Obviously, until now, Yang Guozhong still suspects that Li Linfu is defrauding him, defrauding him, and testing him.But he actually blamed Li Linfu wrongly. There is a saying: When a person is about to die, his words are good, and when a bird is about to die, his song is also sad.At the last moment of his life, Li Linfu really wanted to reconcile with Yang Guozhong sincerely.Because what he cares most about now is not who is the prime minister, but no matter who is the prime minister, he hopes that this person can help him keep the glory behind him, and the fame, fortune, glory and wealth of his descendants.Now, since Yang Guozhong's entry into the prime minister is a certainty, what reason does Li Linfu have to obstruct it? Of course he hopes to reconcile with Yang Guozhong. But the question is—is Yang Guozhong willing to reconcile with him? On November 24th, the eleventh year of Tianbao, Li Linfu, who had been the chief prime minister for 19 years and controlled the Tang Dynasty for nearly 20 years, finally let go of his power-holding hands weakly. After his death, Xuanzong enshrined him with grand etiquette, let him lie in a spacious and comfortable coffin, put a bright pearl in his mouth, and placed a goldfish bag, purple clothes, etc. things.In the Tang Dynasty, these sacrificial objects symbolized the supreme grace and great honor. When the coffin was finalized, Li Linfu gave this evaluation: "Shang (Xuanzong) relied on peace in his later years, thinking that the world would have nothing to worry about, so he lived in deep confinement, entertaining himself with sensuality, and entrusted Lin Fu with political affairs. Lin Fu's flattery Left and right, cater to the upper mind, so as to secure his favor; put an end to words, cover up cleverness, so as to become traitors; Its power. From the crown prince down, fear the side foot. Anyone who has been in phase for 19 years has cultivated chaos in the world, but it is not easy to go up." Originally, Li Linfu's story should have ended here. Li Linfu, who is "full of grievances" and always sleepless, can finally relax his overly tense nerves and enjoy a peaceful and peaceful long sleep. However, Li Linfu would never have imagined that even after death, he would not enjoy peace and tranquility. Because Yang Guozhong didn't want him to die so easily. In the first month of the twelfth year of Tianbao (753 A.D.), before Li Linfu was buried, Yang Guozhong, who had already assumed the post of prime minister, brought up the old case again, and sent people to lobby An Lushan, accusing Li Linfu and Turkic general Abu Si of conspiring to rebel. An Lushan was ecstatic when he heard that Li Linfu had died.He hurriedly joined hands with Yang Guozhong to force Abus's subordinates to give false testimony to the court. Faced with so many menacing accusations, the old and dizzy Xuanzong didn't bother to prove the innocence of a dead person, and immediately issued an edict to remove all the officials and titles of Li Linfu during his lifetime, and all the officials in the court among his descendants were also dismissed and exiled. In the frontier, all property was confiscated.What's more, Xuanzong also ordered people to open Li Linfu's coffin, and took away the imperial pearls, purple clothes, goldfish bags, etc., and finally stuffed him into a small coffin, and buried him casually in the suburbs of Chang'an just like ordinary people on the mass grave. Li Linfu has done all the tricks in his life, but he can't figure out that there will be such a bleak ending behind him.However, in a sense, Li Linfu is lucky. Because he died very timely. In just three years, whether it is Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guozhong, or the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the world, they will all encounter an unimaginable catastrophe together, and the entire prosperous empire of singing and dancing will also fall into a historic disaster that will never be restored... And all of this, Li Linfu has been unable to perceive.