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

However, there are striking parallels in history, just like Zhu Wenjian's destruction of the Tang Dynasty, Li Cunqiao's destruction of the Tang Dynasty and the Later Liang Dynasty has also become the culmination of his life's glory, and from then on, he began to go downhill.

Li Cunqiao is good at riding horses and archery, is brave and brave, and often fights without hesitation, not only can he be called a brave general, but even a good commander and ruler. Before the Liang was destroyed, he strictly issued military orders, prohibiting soldiers from invading the people without reason, reduced the rent a little, and punished some corrupt officials. However, after the destruction of Liang, it was different, he claimed that "I have won the world on ten fingers" (Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 272), and he showed only belief in force, only in himself, and arrogant and arrogant. The three favorite things in his life are war, hunting, and singing. Because in addition to being able to lead troops to fight, he is also familiar with music and rhythm, likes to sing and act, and even composes military songs, ordering soldiers to sing and advance when they charge into battle, which effectively improves morale. After the destruction of Liang, he basically stopped fighting, and he spent his energy on the latter two things. When he went out hunting, he often trampled on large quantities of crops, ruining the farmland near Luoyang. He not only raised a large number of excellent singers in the palace and pampered them, but also often applied grease and powder, personally acted on stage with Zhu Youling, and gave himself the stage name "Li Tianxia". He does not learn the lessons of the Tang Dynasty and trusts the eunuchs around him very much. Long before the emperor, there were more than 500 eunuchs around him, after the emperor, and collected the eunuchs who were in the warlords around the country when Cui Yin and Zhu Wen killed the eunuchs, and asked them to come to Luoyang to concentrate, and in a blink of an eye, the team of eunuchs in the palace doubled, and there were more than 1,000 people. Li Cunmiao not only rewarded the excellent and eunuchs generously, and was extremely extravagant in gold, silver, jewelry, and clothing, but also handed over all kinds of affairs to them and introduced them as confidants. Of course, there are also a few more upright people among Youling and eunuchs, such as the aforementioned supervisor Zhang Chengye is a eunuch, Li Cunmiao does things inappropriately, he often bluntly discourages him; There is also a good guy named Jing Xinmo, who is also more upright.

Jing Xinmi (year of birth and death unknown)

Once, Li Cunqiao led a large number of guards to Zhongmu County (now in the central part of Henan Province, on the south bank of the Yellow River), calling eagles and dogs, riding horses and galloping, trampling a large area of crops that were about to mature in the farmland to a mess. The common people see it in their eyes and feel pain in their hearts, and they dare to be angry but dare not speak. At this time, the county magistrate of Zhongmu County rushed to Li Cunqiao's horse desperately, grabbed the reins, and tried hard to dissuade him. Li Cunmiao couldn't imagine that a small county order would dare to offend "Tianwei", and shouted angrily, "Get out", and a group of wolf-like guards immediately swarmed up, dragged it sideways, and dragged it aside. The county magistrate also stubbornly turned around and admonished a few words, Li Cunmiao added fuel to the fire, and the murderous intent suddenly rose, and the Zhongmu county magistrate saw that he was about to die on the spot. Jing Xinmo saw that something bad was going to happen, so he immediately took a dozen companions to catch up with the county order, captured him in front of Li Cunmiao's horse, and reprimanded him sharply: "As the lord of a county, don't you know that my son of heaven likes to hunt?" Why do you allow the common people to grow crops in the fields to supply the state's taxes? Why don't you let the people of your county starve and vacate the land, so that my family can go hunting freely? You have sinned so much that you deserve to be put to death! After speaking, he turned around, knelt down to Li Cunqiao, and said in the singing voice of the stage performance: "Please Your Majesty quickly order the execution!" More than a dozen servants also echoed in unison: "Please Your Majesty quickly order the execution!" Li Cunmiao thought it was very funny, laughed, and Zhongmu County ordered that he was spared death. Regarding this story, Mr. Lu Simian pointed out sharply: "Those who tell these things may think that they are beautiful talk, but they do not know the cruelty of the people's ravage. ("History of the Five Dynasties of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", Chapter 12, Section 3, "The Rebellion of Zhuangzong in the Later Tang Dynasty") Indeed, this new dynasty had no measures to restore production in the devastated Central Plains. Although Li Cunmiao also issued some official articles on tax reduction and exemption, his officials, such as Kong Qian, the rent envoy, did not really implement them at all, and blindly levied and extorted money to meet the needs of the court's profligacy, causing the country to complain and the people to make a living, and the so-called holy decree of tax reduction and exemption became a complete dead letter. What about Li Cunmiao, where will he really care about the people's suffering? However, he was quite satisfied with Kong Qian's actions, and specially gave him the title of "Meritorious Hero of Wealth and Prosperity for the Country", which is not equivalent to encouraging those officials to be safe and bold in expropriation? And even a few upright eunuchs and excellent singers like Zhang Chengye and Jing Xinmo were almost killed by Li Cunmiao: Zhang Chengye was lucky to be saved by the Empress Dowager Cao, and Jing Xinmo dispelled Li Cunmiao's murderous intent with his extraordinary wit.

Li Cunmiao once fought against the Liang army, and one of his favored servants, Zhou Za, was captured by the Liang army. Later, after conquering Bianliang, Zhou Chuan went to the horse to meet him. Li Cunqiao was overjoyed and rewarded him with a lot of gold, silver and jewelry. Zhou Zai said with tears in his eyes: "I am in the hands of the enemy, and I can meet Your Majesty alive because of Chen Jun and Chu Deyuan." Begging His Majesty to grant them two states in return. Chen Jun and Chu Deyuan were both officials of the Later Liang, and Li Cunqiao readily agreed, ready to give them the post of assassin. General Guo Chongtao advised: "Those who follow His Majesty from birth to death and win the world together are heroes and heroes." Now that the great work has just been completed, none of them have been rewarded, but they first appointed the servants to be the assassins, for fear that they will lose the hearts of the people. Li Cunqiao reluctantly listened to Guo Chongtao's opinion at that time, but only half a year later, he still appointed Chen Jun as the assassin of Jingzhou (now Botou, Hebei) and Chu Deyuan as the assassin of Xianzhou (now Jingle, Shanxi). At that time, there were some people in the Praetorian Guard who followed Li Cunqiao in a bloody battle and failed to assassinate history, and after hearing the news, no one did not sigh and be indignant.

Li Cunmiao also listened to the eunuch's suggestion and sent the servant Jingjin and the eunuch Wang Yunping to Taiyuan, Youzhou, Yecheng (now Linzhang, Hebei) and other places to select beauties to enrich the harem. Jing Jin and others took the opportunity to act recklessly, like a group of bandits, not to mention the common people, and even the wives and daughters of the generals and soldiers in the army also fled one after another. But in the end, 3,000 women were sent in—literally captive to the Luoyang Imperial Palace. This Jing Jin was the most favored by Li Cunqing, not only was he appointed as the doctor of Yinqing Guanglu, the regular attendant of the right scattered cavalry of the inspection school and the doctor of the imperial history, Shangzhuguo and other prominent positions, but also was relied on as the eyes and ears of the people, let him listen to all kinds of news outside, and then he reported to Li Cunqing no matter how big or small.

("The Height is Unbearable - The Emperor and His Concubines and Children" series No. 627)