2. The Four Emperors of the Later Tang Dynasty 1, the death of the "half-cut hero" Li Cunqiao (1)

In April of the year of the fall of the Later Liang, Li Cunmiao, a member of the Shatuo tribe, ascended the throne and became the emperor in Weizhou (now Hebei Daimyo), because he regarded himself as the heir of the Li Tang royal family, the country name was still called "Tang", and it was called "Later Tang" in history, and Li Cunmiao was also the Later Tang Zhuangzong. Unlike the self-made Zhu Wen, Li Cunmiao inherited the foundation of his father Li Keyong after all, so after he became the emperor, he posthumously called Li Keyong "Emperor Taizu Wu" and regarded him as the ancestor of the founding of the country. Shatuo was a Western Turkic tribe that was originally stationed in the northeastern part of Xinjiang near Balikun Lake, and later moved eastward to the area of Yanzhou (now Dingbian, Shaanxi). Li Keyong's father's original name was Zhu Xie Chixin, and when Tang Yizong, he was given the surname Li and renamed Guochang because of his meritorious participation in the suppression of Pang Xun's uprising. After Li Guochang's death, Li Keyong became the leader of this Shatuo army. In the third year of the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty (883 AD), in the same year that Zhu Wen was appointed as the envoy of the Xuanwu Festival, Li Keyong was also appointed as the envoy of the Hedong Festival; Later, Zhu Wen was named the king of Liang, and Li Keyong was named the king of Jin, and for a long time he seized Hedong (now Shanxi) and confronted Zhu Wen with the Yellow River. Zhu Wen was proclaimed emperor and changed the yuan to "Kaiping", Li Keyong and his son naturally did not recognize this Later Liang Dynasty, and still continued to use the "Tianyu" era name of Emperor Tang Ai. Li Keyong died, and his eldest son, Li Cunmiao, inherited the title of King of Jin, and it was not until he himself ascended the throne as emperor that he changed the "20th year of Tianqi" to "the first year of Tongguang", that is, 923 AD.

In the first month of the fifth year of Tianyou (908 AD), Li Keyong was seriously ill, called his younger brother Li Kening and the prison army Zhang Chengye to the bed, pointed to the eldest son Li Cunmiao and said to them: "I will hand over Yazi to you, and you must assist him well." After saying that, he died. This Li Kening not only made many meritorious deeds, but also was benevolent and filial, but also respectful and careful, Li Keyong especially loved and trusted him, and left him to make decisions on all military and political affairs. Li Kening hosted Li Keyong's funeral, and it was handled in an orderly manner, both inside and outside, and no one dared to be dissatisfied. Li Keyong once adopted many vigorous and brave soldiers as godsons and treated them as if they were his own sons. Those godsons are all older than Li Cunmiao, and they all have the army in their hands, they don't look at Li Cunmiao, who is only 24 years old, at all, or they don't come to Jin to see him because of illness, or they don't bow down according to the rules when they meet. The generals naturally saw this kind of behavior in their eyes and doubted it in their hearts, so many people turned their heads and ears to speculate about the situation, and the army's morale was naturally not stable. Li Cunmiao was scared in his heart, so he said to Li Kening: "The child is young and does not understand government affairs, although he has the will of his father, I am afraid that he will not be able to undertake big things." The uncle has outstanding merits and high morality, and the position of the ancestor is inherited by the uncle. Li Kening said: "Who dares to object to the death of my brother's will!" So he gathered everyone and bowed down to Li Cunqiao first. In this case, Li Cunmiao inherited the throne of King Jin, and then handed over all military and political affairs to Li Kening. Li Kening is powerful, and there are many people who flatter him, Li Keyong has a godson named Li Cunhao and said to him: "Since ancient times, there has been a saying that a brother dies and a brother dies, how can there be a reason for an uncle to bow down to his nephew?" If you don't accept it, it's too late to regret it. ”

Li Zheng-yi (December 2, 885 ~ May 15, 926)

Li Kening reprimanded: "Our Li family has always been known for the filial piety of our father and son, as long as the inheritance of the deceased brother can be handed over to the right person to inherit, what else can I ask for?" If you sow discord again, watch me cut off your head! But having said that, Li Cunhao and a group of Li Keyong's godsons were not deterred, not only did they often talk in front of Li Kening, but also let their wives lobby Li Kening's wife Meng. This Meng Shi is pungent and fierce, she is afraid that this kind of boiling thing will leak out and a catastrophe will come, so she repeatedly urged Li Kening to do it - since there is such a statement, no matter how the parties wash it, it is also unclear and unclear, it is better to take the fake as the true and make a Jin king by herself. Li Kening, who had no opinion, was finally confused by everyone's words and was a little tempted, and it is said that he even wanted to launch a coup d'état to kill Zhang Chengye and others, and then attach himself to Zhu Wen, and handed over Li Cunmiao and his mother Cao to Zhu Wen. At this moment, the matter really leaked out, so Li Cunqiao took the lead and designed to arrest Li Kening. Another theory is that Li Kening did not want to launch a coup d'état, but someone ran to Li Cunmiao to spread rumors, framing Li Kening and wanting to launch a coup d'état to hand over Li Cunmiao's mother and son to Zhu Wen. It is said that Li Cunmiao didn't want to fight back at that time, but said: "Flesh and blood relatives can't kill each other." If I had avoided and relinquished the throne, chaos might have been avoided. Zhang Chengye said: "Li Kening wants to throw the king's mother and son into the tiger's mouth, if you don't get rid of him, where can you avoid the king?" Only then did Li Cunqiao take the lead and arrested Li Kening and Li Cunhao at the banquet. Li Cunmiao also asked Li Kening with tears in his eyes: "My nephew wanted to give up the title to my uncle from the beginning, but my uncle himself refused. Now that the big thing has been decided, why did you set up a conspiracy and bear to hand over our mother and son to the enemy? Li Kening also cried and replied: "This is all caused by people who sow discord, since the matter has come to this point, what else can I say?" There is really nothing to say, Li Cunxuan gave an order, and Li Kening and Li Cunhao were beheaded. As for whether Li Kening really wanted to launch a coup d'état, or was framed by others, who knows? Only one thing is certain: that is, after killing Li Kening, Li Cunqiao really grasped the real power, and immediately broke through the Liang army's trap and relieved the siege of Luzhou with lightning speed. In a short period of time, both the internal strife and the external enemy were broken, so that both sides of the enemy and the enemy sincerely exclaimed: "Hey, this young new monarch is really not easy! Whether it's internal or external, there are really two hits!

Li Cunmiao is indeed not simple, although he only took over the position of King Jin, but in the territory of Hedong, he is the actual emperor. It's a pity that, as he analyzed to his father Li Keyong not long ago, the situation in the world at that time was attributed to Zhu Wen seven or eight times out of ten, except for Li Keyong's father and son, who were cramped in a corner of Hedong, on the north bank of the Yellow River, only Liu Rengong and Liu Shouguang, who were in Youzhou and Cangzhou, still retained their independent territory, and in addition, the entire Central Plains region almost became Zhu Wen's world. It was in this harsh environment that Li Cunmiao not only stubbornly fought with Zhu Wen and his son in the Yellow River for more than ten years, but also broke the Khitan iron cavalry to the north, drove the founding emperor of the Khitan Yelu Abaoji back to the north, defeated and eliminated Liu Rengong and his son to the east, and finally made a surprise attack on Kaifeng, destroyed the Later Liang Dynasty, and set the capital in Luoyang.

("The Height is Unbearable - The Emperor and His Concubines and Children" series No. 626)