Second, the four emperors of the Later Tang Dynasty

2, Li Siyuan, who died of hatred (1)

Li Siyuan was originally a surnameless tribe of the Shatuo tribe in Daibei, and his father's name was "Ni", who was Li Guochang's favorite general; Li Siyuan's original name was Miao Jilie, when Ni died, he was only 13 years old, but he had already shown superb riding and archery skills, as long as he sounded the bowstring of the sky, there would be birds falling in the air, therefore, Li Guochang accepted him as a personal soldier. After Li Guochang's death, Li Keyong accepted him as his righteous son, and gave him the surname Li, and changed his name to Heiyuan. From then on, Li Siyuan followed Li Keyong to fight in the south and north for thirty years; After Li Keyong's death, he fought with Li Cunmiao for more than ten years, which can really be described as a lifetime of Rong Ma and great achievements. He once desperately saved Li Keyong's life; He also led a small number of cavalry to charge the enemy formation, and wanted to capture Liang Yong's general Ge Congzhou, although "four arrows flowed, and blood flowed by shares", but he tried his best to destroy the strong enemy and turn his army into safety; In the battle of destroying Liang, it was he who led the vanguard to break through Bianzhou. Therefore, after Tang Liguo, whether it is qualifications, merits or prestige, he has reached a rare height. As he said when he recalled his more than 40 years of fighting career under Li Keyong's father and son: "Solve problems and solve disputes, brave the wind and rain, brave the bloody battle, the body is incomplete, what a hardship and danger!" Although he was seriously suspicious of Li Cunqiao after becoming famous, he had no idea of rebelling against His Majesty the Emperor, let alone the ambition of replacing him as emperor.

However, the situation was stronger than people, and he was finally "forced" to the throne of the emperor.

In the fourth year of Tongguang (926 AD), after the mutiny in Weizhou, Li Siyuan was ordered to lead the army to cross the Yellow River and reach the city of Weizhou. When his own army was also in turmoil, and half of his own soldiers had been wiped out but he was still unable to control the situation, Li Siyuan was a veteran of the battlefield after all, he stepped forward and shouted: "I am the dignified head of the Fan Han Inner and Outer Horse Infantry Army, your commander, and now I am under the order of the emperor to quell the thief." How dare you be so rebellious? Unexpectedly, the rebels didn't buy it, and after they listed Li Cunmiao's various mistakes, they said: "We didn't have the intention of rebellion before, but we were just afraid of being killed by the emperor for no reason, and we tried to save ourselves." Now that we have discussed it, we are willing to join forces with the army in Weizhou City, let the emperor be the emperor south of the Yellow River, and Ling Gongyou be the emperor north of the Yellow River and be our monarch. Li Siyuan's official residence was in the middle of the order, so the rebels respectfully called him "Ling Gong". Hearing these words, Li Siyuan sincerely and tearfully persuaded them not to do this, but the rebels shouted loudly: "Ling Gong, you are not the emperor north of the Yellow River, where do you want to go?" If you don't become an emperor, this place will be occupied by others in the blink of an eye. ”

Lee Si-won [5] (October 10, 867 ~ December 15, 933)

Li Siyuan still refused to betray Li Cunxuan, and said to the rebels: "Since you don't listen to me, then you can do whatever you want, I have to return to the capital." "How can the rebels let him go? Some people even nakedly threatened: "Ling Gong, if you don't see the opportunity, things will be unpredictable!" Not only was it a verbal threat, but it also "drew his sword" and surrounded him. In this case, the deputy generals Huo Yanwei and An Chongzhi quietly stepped on his feet, asking him to agree first, and then get through the difficulties in front of him, Li Siyuan had to pretend to agree. After dawn, the rebels surrounded Li Siyuan into the city, the people in the city did not know the intentions of the people outside the city, and there was a conflict war, the leader of the rebellion outside the city was killed in the conflict, and when the situation was clear, the rebels outside the city had dispersed more than half, so Li Siyuan and Zhao Zaili, the commander of the Weizhou rebel army, joined forces and prepared to march to Luoyang. In fact, Zhao Zaili was originally just a partial general, and the original commander of Weizhou was called Yang Renhui (pronounced zhěng), when the chaos occurred, the rebels asked him to continue to be the commander of the rebel army, Yang Renhui not only disagreed, but also advised everyone: "You are all people with small families, don't do this kind of extermination!" As a result, the rebels unceremoniously cut off his head and forced another lieutenant to be the commander-in-chief. The lieutenant did not agree either, and his head was cut off. Zhao Zaili saw that the situation was not good, put on his clothes, and did not even have time to tie his belt, and in a panic he was about to escape over the wall, but the rebels chased him and caught him, and showed him the two bloody heads that had just been cut off, and asked him if he could be the commander.

In this case, what else can Zhao Zaili do except nod his head and agree? Li Siyuan and others must have heard about the situation in Weizhou, if he didn't pretend to agree at that time, wouldn't he immediately be cut off like Yang Renxi? After entering Weizhou City and joining forces with Zhao Zaili, Li Siyuan didn't want to "rebel", and pretended to say: "If you want to do great things, you must have a strong army, and I will go out first to gather those scattered troops." Zhao Zaili naturally agreed, Li Siyuan then escaped out of the city, that night arrived in Wei County, southwest of Weizhou, followed by less than 100 soldiers, although later gathered a lot of scattered troops, but everyone did not agree with Li Siyuan's decision to return to his own feudal land, to admit his guilt, and to listen to Li Cunxuan's decision, thinking that as soon as he left the army, he would immediately face a catastrophe. In fact, the recitals that Li Siyuan played to Li Cunqiao were also detained by Yuan Xingqin, making it impossible for him to wash himself in front of the emperor.

In this case, Li Siyuan, who was full of suspicion, understood at least one thing, that is, his loyalty could no longer be observed by Li Cunxuan, and it was impossible to get a good result from the emperor. At this time, his son-in-law, Shi Jingjiao (pronounced táng), persuaded him again: "Things succeed in decisiveness and fail in hesitation." How can anyone in the world, as a commander, enter a city guarded by thieves with the rebels, and then be safe and secure in the future? Bianliang is a key city, please give me 300 cavalry, take it first, and then your old man will lead a large army to follow, so that you can protect yourself. Li Siyuan finally agreed, although he still had no intention of betraying and claiming the heart of the emperor, but in fact he had already begun a military campaign against Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxuan—that is, de facto rebellion. In fact, from the moment he pretended to agree to the conditions of the rebels, he had already boarded the "thief ship" and was already involuntarily himself. Soon, when he heard the news of Li Cunmiao's killing, Li Siyuan wept bitterly - he had faithfully served the three generations of the Li family, and these tears were obviously sincere and heartfelt, and they were absolutely not the same as the crocodile tears of Sima Zhao and Zhu Wen.

("The Height is Unbearable - The Emperor and His Concubines and Children" series No. 631)