In the second year of Qianning of the Tang Dynasty (895), Huainan Jiedu made Yang Xingmi attack Haozhou, and after the capture, he patrolled the city and unexpectedly met a homeless child.
In the troubled times at the end of the Tang Dynasty, homeless children abounded, and Yang Xingmi was not surprised, but this child revealed a trace of heroism between his eyebrows, which made him feel a little extraordinary, and decided to accept him as a righteous son on the spot.
In ancient times, the adoption of a righteous son was a very common thing, mostly because he had no children and wanted to have an heir, but Yang Xingmi had many sons, and the adoption of a righteous son caused dissatisfaction among other biological sons, especially Yang Xingmi's eldest son, Yang Wu, but due to his father's authority, he could only make things difficult in secret.
Southern Tang Dynasty "Han Xizai's Night Banquet", Han Xizai went through the Later Tang Dynasty, Yang Wu, Southern Tang Dynasty and Northern Song Dynasty
This three times and twice made Yang Xingmi's head big, and he had no choice but to give the homeless child to his henchman Xu Wen as an adopted son.
Xu Wen also had a son, but Yang Xingmi's words did not dare to disobey, so he accepted the homeless child on the spot and named him Xu Zhihe.
The wandering life since childhood also made Xu Zhihe know how to advance and retreat, regarded Xu Wen as his biological father, and also made Xu Wen love this adopted son.
01
On November 26 of the second year of Tianyou (905), Yang Xingmi, who had become the king of Wu, died, knowing that his eldest son Yang Wu did not have enough prestige to suppress this group of arrogant generals under his command, so he could only ask his henchmen Xu Wen and Zhang Hao to assist Yang Wu well.
Xu Wen and Zhang Hao tearfully agreed, but after supporting Yang Wu to succeed to the throne, he immediately abused his power and cultivated cronies everywhere.
The early territory of Yang Wu
Yang Wu, who was unwilling to be at the mercy of others, immediately set up a new forbidden army guard with his henchmen, forced away Wang Maozhang, the assassin of Xuanzhou, killed Zhou Yin, the judge of Huainan Jiedu, who was secretly plotting, and Liu Wei, the deputy envoy of Huainan Jiedu, and initially established his own prestige.
After the local authority was subdued, it should have been dealt with and slowly dealt with Xu Wen and Zhang Hao, who were in power around him, but Yang Wu relied on his martial arts and used very radical means to suppress it, but instead let the two who were not very good at dealing with it temporarily form an alliance in order to have a glimmer of life, but Yang Wu had cronies and guards around him, and Xu and Zhang had no chance to start.
In April of the fourth year of Tianyou (907), Zhong Chuan, who had seized Jiangxi, died of illness, and several sons fought for the right to inherit.
In order to be foolproof, Yang Wu arranged for Zhu Siqing, Fan Shicong, and Chen Fan to take their henchmen and guards to go to the crusade, one is to experience and experience, and the other is to let them make meritorious contributions and be promoted, which directly gives Xu Wen and Zhang Hao the opportunity to break Yang Wu's wings.
Xu Wen laid the foundation for Xu Zhihe
Taking advantage of the fact that the army had not yet arrived, Xu Wen first arranged for his subordinate Chen You to lead a fast horse to Qin Pei, claiming that Zhu Siqing and others had rebelled and killed them on the spot, and then planned to abolish Yang Wu and carve up Yang Wu and surrender to Zhu Wen.
In May of the fifth year of Tianyou (908), Yang Wu was deposed by Xu Wen and Zhang Hao, and then killed him, and supported Yang Xingmi's second son Yang Long as the king of Wu.
At this time, Xu Zhihe was already a young man who was almost twenty years old, not only liked to read, but also good at riding and shooting, in order to consolidate his power, Xu Wen asked him to serve as the deputy envoy of Shengzhou, the governor of Zhou, Shengzhou is today's Nanjing, and the status is dangerous, which is enough to see Xu Zhihe's status in Xu Wen's heart.
However, although Xu Wen holds great power, his position is not very stable, and the old generals who originally followed Yang Xingmi to birth and death are very dissatisfied with Xu Wen, who started by conspiracy, and wants to secretly get rid of Xu Wen.
In March of the ninth year of Tianyou (912), Li Yu, the Xuanzhou observer, Liu Wei, the Zhennan Jiedu envoy, and Tao Ya, the Chezhou observer, conspired to get rid of Xu Wen.
The Black Cloud and the Silver Spear Festival are both famous, and each is an elite
Li Yu is not a mediocre talent, the war between the two sides lasted for more than a month and did not distinguish between victory and defeat, the angry Xu Wen directly grabbed Li Yu's youngest son to persuade him to surrender, Li Yu couldn't bear the young son to cry for survival, and was forced to surrender, and then the whole family was slaughtered by Xu Wen.
After the war, Xu Zhihe was promoted to the history of Shengzhou Assassin.
Seeing that his adoptive father attaches so much importance to himself, Xu Zhihe plans to make some achievements to repay his adoptive father, and after arriving in Shengzhou, he will punish corruption, select talents, cultivate politics and religion, and renovate the city.
Xu Zhihe originally thought that his political achievements would be appreciated by his adoptive father, but he didn't expect it to cause Xu Wen's jealousy, Xu Wen appreciated Xu Zhihe very much, but after all, he was not biological.
During the period of patrolling Shengzhou, he saw that Xu Zhihe would promote the state well, and he was worried that he would form a big tail, so he directly reappointed him as the training envoy of the Runzhou regiment, as for his biological son Xu Zhixun, he sat in Guangling, nominally assisting Yang Longyan, but in fact monitoring him, and the father and son should join forces in order to control the government more steadily.
南吴Early 疆地 (919)
02
Obviously, Xu Wen's salary at the bottom of the kettle caused Xu Zhihe's dissatisfaction, after all, Runzhou has been war-torn for a long time and is sparsely populated, far inferior to Shengzhou and Guangling, and he can also call Xu Wen a father, but he can't be so favoritistic!
So Xu Zhihe asked Xu Wen to go to the more prosperous Xuanzhou to take up a post, but Xu Wen resolutely refused to allow it, and the rift between father and son was buried.
Just when Xu Zhihe hesitated, Song Qiqiu, a strategist next to him, found him in private, thinking that Runzhou is a good place, after all, it is a water away from Guangling, and Xu Zhixun has always been arrogant and has no one in his eyes, and sooner or later something will happen.
Song Qiqiu's words made Xu Zhihe feel like an initiation, and he immediately set off for Runzhou.
Song Qiqiu
The change in the situation is also as Song Qiqiu expected, Xu Zhixun did not inherit his father Xu Wen's political acumen at all, relying on his father's arrogance and selfishness, often pulling Yang Longyan to act, joining the army himself, Yang Longying acting as a child servant, without the courtesy of a monarch and minister.
It's like this for Yang Longyan, let alone other ministers, after learning that Li Decheng had dozens of prostitutes in his family, he immediately asked him for it, but Li Decheng politely refused, and the angry Xu Zhixun swore in front of Li Decheng's envoy that he would kill Li Decheng's entire family.
Another example is the general Zhu Jin, Zhu Jin kindly taught Xu Zhixun the art of war, but Xu Zhixun coveted other prostitutes, Zhu Jin was indignant and helpless, and persuaded Yang Longyan many times to find an opportunity to kill Xu's father and son, but Yang Longyan is a puppet with no power, what can he do?
In the fifteenth year of Tianyou (918), Zhu Jin designed to kill Xu Zhixun, and Xu Zhihe, who was observing the current situation in Runzhou, finally got the opportunity, and as soon as he heard the news, he immediately crossed the river and entered Guangling to control the situation.
Xu Zhihe, who was observing the current situation in Runzhou, finally got a chance
And after Xu Wen learned that his son was killed, he immediately rushed back to Guangling from Shengzhou, Xu Zhixun was Xu Wen's only eldest son, he was killed, Xu Wen immediately suspected that it was Xu Zhihe's hand.
After all, Xu Zhixun wanted to kill Xu Zhihe several times, and not long after Xu Zhihe arrived in Runzhou, Zhu Jin killed Xu Zhixun, Xu Zhihe reacted extremely quickly, and led his troops across the river into Guangling as soon as possible, all of which made Xu Wen suspicious.
However, when Xu Wen arrived in Guangling, the first offender Zhu Jin had committed suicide, and he did not have any evidence to prove that Xu Zhihe had a plan, in addition, Xu Wen actually found a secret residence in Xu Zhixun's residence before his death, and there was actually a painting hanging in it.
In the painting, Xu Zhixun himself is seated, Xu Wen and Xu Zhixun's younger brothers were tied up and tortured, and the angry Xu Wen scolded the son for dying too late on the spot.
Of course, no one knows whether these paintings were really made by Xu Zhixun, but to some extent they eliminated Xu Wen's suspicion of Xu Zhihe, and the other sons were relatively young, so Xu Zhihe could only be appointed as the deputy envoy of the Huainan Jiedu March, taking over Xu Zhixun's original position.
So far, Xu Zhihe has become the biggest winner after Xu Zhixun was killed, and he has become the most powerful minister of Yang Wu after Xu Wen by relying on his keen political sense and amazing endurance.
Different from Xu Zhixun's arrogance, Xu Zhihe is lenient with the public, frugal with his body, and seeks good advice, and all the generals are subdued.
And by this time, Xu Zhihe was no longer willing to act as the minion of his adoptive father, Xu Wen, he wanted more.
03
On the other side, Xu Wen saw that Xu Zhihe's power was getting bigger and bigger, and he seriously threatened his position, so he immediately sent his second son Xu Zhixun to Runzhou, one was to cultivate Xu Zhixun, and the other was to monitor Xu Zhihe.
Xu Wen was also worried
In addition, Xu Wen's cronies also realized that Xu Zhihe had become a big deal, and repeatedly suggested that Xu Wen send Xu Zhixun to Guangling to replace Xu Zhihe.
To be honest, Xu Wen couldn't make up his mind for a while, after all, whether Xu Zhixun was competent or not, he had no bottom at all, but considering the relationship between his adopted son and his parents, Xu Wen finally made up his mind to replace Xu Zhihe.
In November of the seventh year of Shunyi of Southern Wu (927), in order to satisfy his dream of becoming the emperor of Zen, Xu Wen forced the new king of Wu, Yang Pu, to be the emperor, and planned to personally lead the envoys of the feudal towns to enter the court, but before leaving, Xu Wen suddenly fell ill and could only send his son Xu Zhixun to enter the court to persuade him, and then take the opportunity to replace Xu Zhihe in power.
Knowing that his adoptive father was going to replace him again, Xu Zhihe, who knew that he was fledgling, could only write a watch overnight and asked to go to Hongzhou to serve as the assassin, but before the watch was sent, Xu Wen died of illness in Jinling Mansion.
Jinling Mansion is actually the previous Shengzhou, and Xu Wen changed Shengzhou to Jinling in preparation for the usurpation of the throne in the future.
And Xu Zhixun learned that his father died of illness, and knew that he was not Xu Zhihe's opponent, so he ran back to Jinling Mansion overnight, and Xu Zhihe lost the pressure of Xu Wen, and suddenly became much calmer, continued to assist in Guangling, and then continued to force Yang Pu to be the emperor, Yang Pu was helpless, and finally announced the emperor under persecution.
After Xu Wen's death, his confidants and colleagues stayed by Xu Zhixun's side in order to make a big deal, but Xu Zhixun, like his brother Xu Zhixun, was neither talented nor virtuous, and he didn't know how to buy people's hearts, which directly led to most of the people changing their doors and turning to Xu Zhihe.
Xu Wen's sons did not inherit Xu Wen's ability at all
And Xu Zhixun was also mean and unkind to his younger brothers, which directly led to Xu Zhixuan and Xu Zhixun frequently showing favor to Xu Zhihe at both ends.
Seeing that the people around him were in a panic all day long, Xu Zhixun planned to let Xu Zhihe go to Jinling Mansion to mourn, and then cut off the troubles in one fell swoop.
Xu Zhihe was not so naïve, pretending that Yang Pu would not allow it, and also asked Xu Zhixun to come to Guangling with Yang Pu's edict, as for the reason, it was much more ruthless than mourning - arrogance.
Xu Zhihe said that someone reported that Xu Zhixun had received a lot of dragon and phoenix pattern items from Qian Biao, and that he had acted unsubordinately and needed to come to Guangling to prove his innocence.
Although Yang Pu is just a puppet, but nominally the monarch of everyone, the matter of encroachment is still very taboo and extraordinary, Xu Zhixun has no reason not to come, so he can only go to Guangling, and as soon as he arrives in Guangling, he seizes the military power for the crime of not being subordinate, so the strength of the Xu Wen family has collapsed.
Although Xu Zhixun feasted and drank all day after that, without thinking about it at all, Xu Zhihe was still not at ease with him.
There is such a story recorded in "Zizhi Tongjian", saying that once Xu Zhihe summoned Xu Zhixun, gave Xu Zhixun a glass of wine during the banquet, and wished him a thousand years old.
Xu Zhihe's face changed suddenly, he didn't drink it, he didn't drink it, and at the critical moment, a servant named Shen Zhihe stepped forward to play a round game, drank two glasses of wine, and then left the scene, Xu Zhihe immediately sent someone to send the antidote, but it was still a step too late, and Shen Zhigao died of poison.
Although I don't know whether it's true or not, it can also be seen that Xu Zhihe is wary of the Xu family, of course, Xu Zhihe did not kill them all, Xu Wen's descendants are alive and well in the Southern Tang Dynasty in the future, Xu Zhizheng and Xu Zhihe are still regarded as clansmen, and they also repay Xu Wen's nurturing grace.
04
At this point, Xu Zhihe became the undisputed de facto ruler of Yang Wu, and he also faced the final step: usurpation.
Before the usurpation, Xu Zhihe also made quite full preparations, whether it was the old ministers of the Yang family or ordinary people, Xu Zhihe always adopted the strategy of Huairou in order to win the favor of the local forces.
It is not uncommon for usurpation to be in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, but it is strange that it can be so stable
At this point, there is only time left for Xu Zhihe to do Wang Mang's thing.
As for the Yang clan, except for Yang Xingmi's third son, Yang Meng, who wanted to kill Xu Zhihe with the support of a group of old ministers, but was devastated by Xu Zhihe, Yang Meng was first imprisoned, and then killed, and as soon as Yang Meng died, everyone in the Yang family was in danger, and there was no large-scale boycott from then on.
In the seventh year of the Southern Wu Yamato (935), Xu Zhihe entered the king of Qi, formally established the state of Qi, established a temple and placed hundreds of officials, and took a substantial step to usurp the throne.
In the first year of Shengyuan (937), Yang Pu Zen was given to Xu Zhihe, Xu Zhihe changed his name to Xu He, changed Yuan Shengyuan, the country name was Qi, the capital was Jinling, and his adoptive father Xu Wen was the ancestor of Qi.
Compared with other usurpers, Xu Zhihe's usurpation did not cause criticism and chaos at that time, and he was able to be so calm, relying on Xu Zhihe's 20 years of playing up and down with Yang Wu's military ministers and people, and his understanding of them was very thorough, and Xu Zhihe was extremely enduring, which made his Zen acceptance extremely smooth.
Xu Zhihe established the Qi State at that time, so why did it become the Southern Tang Dynasty? This has to start with Xu Zhihe's change of name and surname.
In the third year of Shengyuan (939), Xu Zhizheng and Xu Zhihe, who had always been the only one who looked forward to Xu Zhihe, suddenly played, saying that since Xu Zhihe was the emperor, he should restore his original surname, but Xu Zhihe immediately resigned, saying that Xu Wen had the grace of nurturing me, how could he be ungrateful?
But then, Xu Zhihe embarked on the road of restoring his original surname, and it is obvious that there must be Xu Zhihe's instruction behind the performance of the children of the Xu family, and he wants to consolidate the throne and completely cut off the influence of the original Yang Wu and Xu.
So what is Xu Zhihe's surname? He thought of a surname: Li.
At this time, it has only been more than 20 years since the fall of Li Tang, and the banner of Datang still has a strong appeal, and there was a proverb at that time: the carp of the East China Sea flew into the sky.
The ancients believed in proverbs
The carp represents the Li family, the East China Sea is Haizhou, which is consistent with his geographical vision, and flying to the sky is to call the emperor, obviously Li is his best surname.
Of course, this may have been fabricated and spread by Xu Zhihe before he became emperor, in order to confuse the public, anyway, everyone with the surname Li accepted it.
As for which emperor Li Tang is descendant? Xu Zhihe also has a choice, this is Tang Taizong, is there any emperor in the Tang Dynasty who is more fierce than Tang Taizong? If you want to do it, you will be a descendant of Tang Taizong.
As for the line of Tang Taizong, Xu Zhihe chose to choose and chose Li Ke, the king of Wu, although Li Ke was killed on suspicion of rebellion during the Tang Gaozong period, but he was rehabilitated, and the descendants also produced two prime ministers, far stronger than other bloodlines, and then found a minister to compile a family tree for himself, claiming to be the tenth grandson of Li Ke.
If you have a surname, you naturally have to change your name, and you can't call it Li Huan, so I chose a word "昪" (biàn), which means that the sun is bright and also represents the recovery of the Tang Dynasty.
The names have been changed, and the country name will naturally be changed.
In the third year of Shengyuan (939), Xu Zhihe changed his name to Li Yu, changed the country name to "Tang", and was known as the Southern Tang Dynasty in history.
South Tangjiang
It can be said that Xu Zhihe's series of actions of changing his name and country name are to eliminate Xu Wen's influence.
To tell the truth, whose descendant is Li Yu? Various historical books are inconsistent, and Ouyang Xiu recorded in the "History of the New Five Dynasties" that Li Yu was a humble descendant of Li Tang at all.
As for whether it is, probably Li Yu himself knows, after all, a six-year-old orphan and intelligent by nature, it is unlikely that he does not know his father, let alone forget his original surname, but pretending to be Li is just to consolidate the imperial power.
05
Li Yu was taken captive as an adopted son since childhood, and fostered Xu's disciples for more than 40 years, from the son of a moth who looks at the eyes of others to the king of a country who created a foundation, he naturally knows the difficulties of life and the hardships of the people.
But being lenient to the courtiers does not mean being tolerant of the Yang Wu clan, saying that after the emperor took power, he locked up all the descendants of Yang Xingmi in Yongning Palace, guarded by heavy troops, and the people inside could not get out, and they would not be killed.
Li Yu's attitude towards the Yang Wu clan is indeed rare
It's been a long time, these descendants of the Yang family who are close to each other by blood are actually together, although it is despicable, but they may have the intention of revenge, after all, they can't get out now, the family needs to multiply, and people who have not been in contact with the outside world for a long time can only digest it internally.
As long as you live, there are miracles, and you may not be able to go out, so you can only pin your hopes on your descendants, hoping to see the light of day again in your lifetime.
It can be said that Li Yu kept them in captivity like cattle for a long time, torturing people's hearts, which was more uncomfortable than killing them directly, but they survived for 14 years, and in the end they could not escape death.
In the fourteenth year of the Southern Tang Dynasty (956), Chai Rong conquered Huainan, in order to appease the descendants of the Yang family, saying that the war between him and the Southern Tang Dynasty would not involve the Yang family, so that the descendants of the Yang family could rest assured, and Li Jing, who was reigning at the time, learned the news and was afraid that someone would rebel, so he immediately killed all the descendants of the Yang family.
It can be said that Li Yu's actions can be seen that he is a person with an extremely contradictory personality, who is good at power and forgiveness, both humble and frugal and self-restraint, and has extremely strong self-esteem, such as losing the war with the Later Jin Dynasty, refusing to accept repatriated prisoners of war, and so on.
On February 22, the seventh year of Shengyuan (943), Li Yu had sores on his back, and soon his condition deteriorated.
Dechang Palace stores Rong utensils, more than 700 gold leaf, and you keep it into business. It is advisable to make good friends with neighboring countries in order to protect the community, and not to attack the traces of the emperor, and to prevent the army from destroying itself. Gou can keep my words, you are a filial son, and the people call you a virtuous king.
He died of illness in the Shengyuan Hall that night, and the temple was called Liezu.
Li Yu is a typical founding monarch of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, although he has lofty ambitions and the mind to establish a foundation for thousands of years, but he is subject to the environment, and after all, he can only be satisfied with protecting the territory and the people.
However, during his reign, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and Li Yu could be regarded as a generation of wise men.