2. The Four Emperors of the Later Tang Dynasty 3, Difficult Brothers and Difficult Brothers - Li Conghou and Li Congke (1)

Li Conghou and Li Congrong not only have the same father, but also the same mother, both born to Li Siyuan's wife Xia, but unfortunately Xia was not blessed, as early as the first year of Tongguang (923 AD) died of illness. Li Conghou, the king of the Song Dynasty, was virtuous and prestigious, although he was far away in Weizhou, he was still deeply jealous of his brother Li Congrong, so he had been trembling, worried that he would be framed by his brother and a catastrophe would come, but fortunately he was "good at Chengshun" ("The History of the Old Five Dynasties, Tang Shu, Emperor Min"), and finally survived peacefully. On November 29, the fourth day after his father's death, Li Conghou rushed back to the capital Luoyang from Weizhou and succeeded to the throne on the first day of December, known as the "Later Tang Emperor Min", and he was exactly 20 years old that year. At the beginning of the second year, Li Conghou changed the name of the year to "the first year of Yingshun", indicating that he was "Yingtianshun people" as the emperor. It's just that he knows very well that his throne is not secure, and there are two biggest threats, one is Li Siyuan's son-in-law Hedong Jiedu envoy Shi Jingjiao, and the other is Li Siyuan's godson Fengxiang (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi) Jiedu envoy Li Congke. Li Congke is a native of Pingshan, Zhenzhou (now Pingshan, Hebei), with the small character Asan, and his biological father's surname is Wang, who has long since died. When Li Siyuan followed Li Keyong to pass through Pingshan in the campaign, he saw that Ah San's widow mother Wei was beautiful, so he plundered the two of them into the army together, and Ah San was only 10 years old that year.

Li Conghou (December 17, 914 – April 934)

Li Siyuan accepted Wei as a concubine, and accepted Xiao Asan as a righteous son, and asked him to change his name to Li Congke. In this way, Li Siyuan is not only Li Congke's godfather, but also a legitimate adoptive father and stepfather. Ah San and Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunmiao were born in the same year, when they grew up, they looked dignified and brave and good at fighting, not only Li Siyuan "loved him very much", even Li Cunmiao also said with admiration: "Ah San is not only the same age as me, but also very similar to me when he dares to fight." "Once, he led more than a dozen horsemen mixed with the retreating Liang army, and after arriving at the Liang army camp, he killed many Liang soldiers by surprise, and cut down the enemy's watchtower with an axe, before returning to his camp safely. Li Cunmiao laughed and rewarded him with wine and food, and praised: "Ah San is so brave!" He not only followed Li Siyuan from birth to death, the southern expedition to the north, that year when Li Siyuan returned to Luoyang after the mutiny, Li Congke also led his troops to rush to meet his father-in-law, so that Li Siyuan, who did not have many soldiers, suddenly had a great military prestige. After Li Siyuan became the emperor, Prime Minister An Chongzhi collected Li Congke's mistakes because he had a grudge with Li Congke, and asked the emperor to deal with it strictly. Li Siyuan said very unhappily: "When I was a small general, my family members lacked food and clothing, and they all relied on this son to carry lime and collect horse manure to maintain. Now that I am the Son of Heaven, I can't protect a son! An Chongzhu had no choice but to retreat. Li Congke was born in the first year of Guangqi of Tang Dynasty (885 AD), only 18 years younger than Li Siyuan, and much older than Li Siyuan's own sons. It can be seen that Li Siyuan's own sons, including Li Conghou, have all been raised by this "eldest brother".

Although Wei died within a few years, Li Congke was successively awarded the posts of General Zuowei and Acting Yin of Jingzhao Mansion by Li Siyuan, and later transferred to Fengxiang Jiedu and was named King Lu. Li Congke has a daughter named Li Youcheng, who became a nun in Luoyang and is called Master Huiming; There was a son, Li Chongji, who served as the commander of the control crane, that is, an officer of the palace guard. When Li Congrong launched a mutiny, Li Siyuan said to Li Chongji, who was waiting by his side: "I and your father have braved the arrow stone to pacify the world, and your father has rescued me from danger many times. What credit does Li Congrong have to be instigated by others to do such a rebellious thing? I have long known that I can't entrust him with important things, and I should call your father and hand over the military power to him. Now close all the gates of the palace for me. Li Chongji obeyed the order and led the crane guards to defend the gates of the palace. It can be seen that although Li Congke is not his own son, Li Siyuan treats him not much different from his own son. Because of this, Li Conghou's suspicion of Li Congke was particularly serious, and soon after inheriting the throne, he deprived Li Chongji of the power to control the Praetorian Guard, and sent him to Bozhou as a regimental training envoy; Even Master Hui Ming, who became a nun, was summoned to the palace to "practice", and she was actually put under house arrest. This is not enough, Li Conghou transferred Li Congke to replace Shi Jingjiao as the envoy of the Hedong Festival, and Shi Jingjiao was reappointed as the envoy of the Chengde (now Zhengding, Hebei) festival. Li Conghou's wishful thinking is: as long as Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao are allowed to leave their nests, it will be much easier to control.

Let's take a look at Li Congke's side: When Li Siyuan was still alive, Li Congke lived tremblingly because he was worried that Prime Minister An would harm him, and in desperation, he could only recite Buddhist scriptures and pray secretly every day. During Li Siyuan's serious illness, Li Congke could only send his wife to Luoyang many times to greet and wait; After Li Siyuan's death, Li Congke was afraid of unforeseen disasters, so he excused himself from illness and did not dare to go to Luoyang for funeral. When he heard that his son had been dismissed from the military and his daughter had been summoned to the palace to be under house arrest, Li Congke was even more frightened. Even this important appointment, which transferred himself to serve as the envoy of the Hedong Jiedu, did not have a formal decree, but was only a document of the Privy Council. What's more, the one who replaced him as the envoy of Fengxiang Jiedu was the foreign king Li Congzhang, who was Li Siyuan's nephew, with a rude and barbaric temperament, and liked to kill people and cause trouble. Li Congke was really frightened: if he accepted the transfer, even if he was not planted in Li Congzhang's hands, he would inevitably pass through the capital Luoyang, where would he still live; If he does not accept the transfer, Feng Xiang's troops are thin, and he has little grain and grass, so he is not an opponent of the central government at all.

Li Congke consulted with the strategists, and after discussing it, there was no foolproof plan, so he had to decide not to accept the appointment and avoid this imminent disaster first. Li Congke's response was to issue a letter to the generals of the feudal towns, accusing the prime ministers Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun (pronounced yūn) of taking advantage of the opportunity of the first emperor's serious illness to kill the elderly Li Congrong, support the young Li Conghou, and control the imperial court, sow discord, and frame the royal family; Now I am ready to raise troops to eliminate the traitorous ministers around the emperor, and I ask you to help. Unfortunately, after the letter was issued, there were few responders, and many generals from neighboring towns arrested his envoys, and those who did not arrest did not make a clear statement, and were prepared to sit back and watch their brothers and sons fight each other to see who had the upper hand, and then decide who would be "allegiant" to whom. At this moment, the imperial court's "crusade" army had arrived, surrounding Fengxiang City and attacking on all sides. The Fengxiang city wall is low, the ditch is shallow, and the equipment to defend the city is even more lacking, and the army of the imperial court attacked on the first day of March 15, and conquered the Xiguan city gate, and the defenders in the city suffered heavy casualties. On the 16th, another onslaught was launched, this time with a certain aspiration. The people in the city were panicked, and the soldiers lost the confidence to continue to hold on. At this critical juncture, Li Congke recklessly climbed to the top of the city and shouted to the city: "I, Li Congke, followed the first emperor to fight in the south and the north when I was less than 20 years old, and I was born and died, and I was scarred all over my body, so that I created the foundation of the country. Many of you have been my subordinates and have fought with me on the battlefield! Now that the court trusts traitors and mutilates the flesh and blood of their loved ones, what is my sin? After saying that, he cried bitterly, and the soldiers who besieged the city were deeply infected.

("The Height is Unbearable - The Emperor and His Concubines and Children" series No. 634)