Just as the so-called "brave and slight shock to the lord is in danger, and those who cover the world are not rewarded", in the dynastic era of "accompanying the king like accompanying the tiger", the famous generals were killed by suspicion and countless people, as far as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are concerned, guo Chongtao, a famous general who has destroyed the two major empires of Later Liang and Former Shu, and made great achievements in the process of the founding of the Later Tang Dynasty, is a clear example.
Guo Chongtao embroidered portrait painting
Guo Chongtao was a native of Yanmen, the late Tang Dynasty prefecture, who initially served Li Kexiu (Li Keyong's younger brother) as the envoy of Zhaoyi Jiedushi, and after the death of the lord, he was transferred to serve the envoy of Hedong Jiedu and Li Keyong, the king of Jin, and was appointed as a canon, and was deeply trusted because of his honesty and ability, wisdom and alertness. After Li Keyong died of illness and Li Cunxun took the throne, Guo Chongtao was further promoted, and as the deputy envoy of the Middle Gate, he shared important affairs with Meng Zhixiang and Li Shaohong, and later succeeded Meng Zhixiang as the Envoy of the Middle Gate.
As Li Cunxun's "number one think tank", Guo Chongtao followed him in his southern expedition to the northern war, and made great achievements in a series of activities such as defeating the Khitans, pacifying Hebei, and establishing the Later Tang, thus gaining Li Cunxun's weight. It was at the suggestion of Guo Chongtao that Li Cunxun led a surprise attack on Bieliang, and it took only 8 days to eliminate the enemy Hou Liang, and the yixue country was humiliated by the family feud in October of the first year of Tongguang (923).
Later Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxun
It was precisely because Guo Chongtao had made great contributions in the cause of establishing The Later Tang and the fall of Later Liang, so Li Cunxun was proclaimed empress dowager, so he worshipped him as a servant, a privy envoy, a soldier shangshu and an envoy of Jizhou Jiedushi, and was given the title of Duke of Zhao County, and gave him the danshu iron coupon and the special gift of avoiding death ten times, and the power and fame were unmatched ("Give iron coupons, forgive ten deaths."). See History of the Old Five Dynasties, Vol. 57). However, during Guo Chongtao's reign, he liked to suppress and degrade his colleagues, coupled with the fact that he often punished eunuchs and servants according to law, so he made many enemies in the DPRK.
In the third year of Tongguang (925), Li Cunxun made his eldest son Li Jiquan the capital and Guo Chongtao sent 60,000 troops to attack Former Shu. As the actual commander-in-chief of the Shu army, Guo Chongtao wisely adopted the strategic principle of "taking it for the country and using it for the enemy because of grain", and first sent troops to attack and occupy Fengzhou, thus obtaining a large amount of grain and troops, and providing sufficient logistical support for the army's advance. The army officially set out on September 18, and it took only 70 days to attack Former Shu and capture Wang Yanjun, which is a miracle in military history. However, soon after the destruction of Shu, Guo Chongtao, the number one great hero, suffered the disaster of extinction.
Map of the territory of the Later Tang Dynasty in its heyday
It turned out that after Guo Chongtao destroyed Shu, he was proud of his hard work and high achievements, and at the same time bullied Li Jichao, and without asking the latter, he single-handedly manipulated the reports between the army and the imperial court, the solicitation of former Shu generals, and the setting up of officials, and made it clear that he did not pay attention to him. Not only that, Guo Chongtao also accepted the concubines and treasures given by the Former Shu general Wang Zongbi, and promised to keep him an official, which made Li Ji even more angry. Li Cong, the eunuch of the supervising army who was seriously at odds with Guo Chongtao, constantly provoked the relationship between Li and Guo, and he wanted to get rid of them quickly.
However, there must be a legitimate reason for killing the founding father, otherwise it would cause the courtiers to rebuke and the military instability, and it was with this in mind that Li Congxuan contacted his colleagues Xiang Yansi, Ma Yanjue, and others, instructing them to manipulate right and wrong in front of the emperor, framing Guo Chongtao of appropriating all the treasures, geisha, and musicians in Shudi for himself, and planning to establish himself as king in Sichuan. Li Cunxun was a master of external and internal taboos, short and reckless, and as soon as he provoked him, he immediately ordered Ma Yangui to rush to Shudi to urge Guo Chongtao's class to return to the dynasty, and if the latter did not stay, he joined forces with Li Jiquan to kill him.
Empress Liu Yuniang of Li Cunxun
Ma Yangui and Xiang Yansi were eager to kill Guo Chongtao immediately, where could they patiently wait for him to react obviously before eradicating it, not to mention that the latter did not want to rebel at all. Because of this, the two ran to Empress Liu and made a rumor, claiming that Guo Chongtao intended to kill Li Ji and then lead his army north to seize the throne. Although Empress Liu was brought to power by Guo Chongtao, she was a confused and ungrateful woman, and as soon as she was provoked, she pleaded with the emperor to immediately issue an edict to execute Guo Chongtao, and after being refused, she personally wrote a religious decree asking her son to kill Guo Chongtao.
Although Li Jiquan resented Guo Chongtao, he was quite hesitant after receiving his mother's order, believing that Guo Chongtao had not committed the felony of rebellion and had killed the Yuanxun meritorious servants without permission, not to mention that killing people by the empress's orders alone was not only inconsistent with the system, but also difficult to convince the soldiers. When Li Congxuan, Ma Yangui, and others saw the situation, they deliberately created an incident to make Guo Chongtao offend Li Jiquan, and then instigated him, and sure enough, Li Jiquan agreed to kill Guo Chongtao.
Although Guo Chongtao was granted the privilege of avoiding death ten times, he was eventually exterminated
Soon, Under the pretext of discussing the matter of the class teacher, Li Jiquan invited Guo Chongtao to enter the military account to discuss the matter, but when he came in, he took advantage of the excuse to leave, and then instructed the ambush soldiers to beat him alive with iron rafters, in the first month of the fourth year of Tongguang (926), just over a month after the Later Tang Dynasty destroyed Shu. Afterwards, Li Jiquan also killed Guo Chongtao's two sons who remained in the army, and sent people to kill his three sons in his hometown, confiscating all of his family property. Guo Chongtao's meritorious service to the world and the privilege of avoiding death ten times, but in the end he still inevitably ended up being destroyed, which is really regrettable.