Watch Song Shizhi 29 with you: Chai Rong arranges the affairs after his death

Text | Ning Caichen

1. Chai Rong's abacus

Chai Rong's time was short, and he began to arrange the aftermath, and the little emperor Chai Zongxun was only 7 years old, and the whole age was not yet 6 years old.

Smart people always think a lot, and Chai Rong also thinks a lot.

First of all, Chai Rong was made empress, because the former empress was already dead, and for more than two years, Chai Rong did not make an empress. The empress dowager was the former empress's younger sister, Tianxiong Junjie, another daughter of the general Fu Yanqing. In other words, Chai Rong successively crowned Fu Yanqing's two daughters as empresses.

This arrangement is absolutely reasonable, Fu Yanqing, this is your grandson; The new empress, the little emperor called you aunt, you should always be kind to him.

On the side of the civil officials, the prime minister is Fan Qian, and Wang Bo and Wei Renpu are the deputy prime ministers. There was a bit of a problem here, and after three years of Xiande, Chai Rong enlisted JiangHuai and appointed Wang Pu as the deputy retainer of Tokyo. After meeting the teachers, Wang Pu was promoted to the position of Hubu Attendant and Privy Councillor. Soon after, he was promoted to Privy Counsellor and Inspector Taibao.

Wang Pu was promoted to Privy Councillor, greatly dividing Wei Renpu's power to take charge of the Privy Council. If Wang Pu is alive, there is no problem with this arrangement. However, Wang Pu was already dead, the power of Wei Renpu, who was loyal to Chai Rong, was divided, and a power vacuum appeared in the Privy Council, which provided an opportunity for Zhao Kuangyin to win over the deputy chancellor Wang Bo.

This is also what we said before, Chai Rong's revocation of Li Gu's position as prime minister was an indirect help to Zhao Kuangyin. At this time, Li Gu is still alive, and there is still a year before Li Gu dies. If Chai Rong re-elected Li Gu as prime minister, Fan Qian, Wang Bo as deputy prime minister, and Wei Renpu regained control of the Privy Council, then Zhao Kuangyin basically had no chance.

After all, Wei Renpu was not a jinshi, he was promoted by Guo Wei and Chai Rong, and his loyalty was much stronger than that of others.

After the success of the Zhao Kuangyin Chen Qiao Incident, Fan Qian, Wang Pu, and others obeyed the order. Wei Renpu was not willing to be subverted in the following weeks, and he organized some courtiers to resist, but was finally suppressed due to his weak strength.

Since then, Wei Renpu has been infected with the disease. Although he lived for 10 years and followed Zhao Kuangyin in his conquest of the Northern Han Dynasty, he never forgot the kindness of Later Zhou Chairong. Before his death, he had been reading the name of Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, blaming himself for not being able to save Later Zhou's Jiangshan.

Although there are loopholes in the arrangement of civil officials, the overall problem is not big. The problem still arises in terms of the arrangement of military generals.

Previously, Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin, who had the highest ranks of general Wu, were both excluded from the capital, and Zhang Yongde was dismissed from the post of inspector in front of the palace and allowed to go to Liaozhou as an emissary; Li Chongjin stayed in Huaibei and stared at Li Jing, not wanting to return to Beijing.

The first two martial generals were excluded from the capital, so who to use? Can only be his most trusted person, Chai Rong chose Zhao Kuangyin. The 33-year-old Zhao Kuangyin was promoted to the rank of Inspector of the Palace Front, and just from the perspective of his position, he was already the highest level of a military general. Zhao Kuangyin went from Guo Wei's side to the first rank of military general step by step, which took just 8 years. Looking through the entire ancient Chinese history, the starting point is so low, there is only one person who can do this, that is, Yue Fei.

Bai Qi, Han Xin, Wei Qing, Li Jing, and Qi Jiguang all had a much higher starting point. Bai Qi, because of his good relationship with Wei Ran, was directly recommended as the main general as soon as he came up; Han Xin was a great commander, but he had no experience of slashing with the enemy army; Although Wei Qing was born as a slave, she was a manu by Princess Pingyang's side, and her sister was the favorite concubine of Emperor Wu of Han; Li Jing was born from the Li clan of the Longxi Hao clan and brought his own aura; Qi Jiguang, a good villain, has a position left by his ancestors to inherit;

Zhao Kuangyin is a person who combines hard work and luck. If the previous promotion was because of his efforts, then this time, it was completely lucky. No one in the Northern Expedition khitan had any merit, and the territory laid down was basically surrendered on its own initiative. However, because of Chai Rong's suspicion of the generals around him, in the end, this lucky person became Zhao Kuangyin.

One thing, many people don't understand, since Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin were excluded from the capital, why not summon Fu Yanqing, the young emperor's grandfather, Tianxiong Junjie, back to the capital?

Although Fu Yanqing was 61 years old at the time, the old man was very able to live, 78 years old, and died at the age of 76. With Fu Yanqing's prestige and the military power of the Tianxiong Army outside, no one would be afraid of three points. Chai Rong also took this into account and made Fu Yanqing's daughter the new empress.

Chai Rong had two considerations in this: First, the Tianxiong Army was a very effective unit from the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty, during the Li Cunxun period, and it was the main unit guarding the border pass to prevent the Liao State from invading, Fu Yanqing ran the Tianxiong Army for many years, and the Tianxiong Army only obeyed Fu Yanqing's orders and transferred Fu Yanqing to the capital, and the Tianxiong Army was afraid that it would slowly get out of control. Besides, with Fu Yanqing's Tianxiong Army outside, whoever really wanted to do things in the capital had to weigh it up.

The second reason is that Zhao Kuangyin has long since realized from the process of Guo Wei and Chai Rong's ascension to the throne how important it is to find a big tree to rely on. Chai Rong was able to sit firmly on the throne, in addition to Guo Wei's arrangement, Chai Rong's personal ability, there was also a major reason, that is, Chai Rong married Fu Yanqing's daughter, backed by the big tree of Tianxiong Army.

Therefore, around the fourth year of Xiande and the fourth year of Chai Rong's succession, Zhao Kuangyin hired his younger brother Zhao Kuangyi, married Fu Yanqing's sixth daughter, and also climbed into the family with Fu Yanqing.

This was the main reason why zhao kuangyin treated the empress dowager and members of the royal family with courtesy in the later Chen Qiao incident, and Fu Yanqing did not raise an army against Zhao Kuangyin in the end.

Of course, with Chai Rong's cleverness, it was impossible to be unguarded against Zhao Kuangyin.

In order to guard against Zhao Kuangyin, Chai Rong handed over to Han Tong the right to command the envoy division, the sworn enemy of the former commander of the palace front division. Han Tong, every time Chai Rong went out on the expedition, it was Han Tong who cooperated with Wang Pu to stay in the capital, this person did things, was extremely principled, and was nicknamed "Han Staring Eyes", and was absolutely loyal.

Not only that, after Chai Rong sealed the gate again, Murong Yanzhao, the general of rongma for a lifetime, was appointed as the deputy capital of the zhenning army, and served as the deputy capital of the palace, and also served as the northern camp of the horse infantry. It sounds like it is to lay hands on Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong, and the position is below the two, but this brother is older than Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong, has been in the military for a long time, encounters differences of opinion, and is the one who dares to fight with Zhao Kuangyin and Han Tong.

Well, everything was arranged, Chai Rong finally went on the road, with some regrets, a little unwillingness, a little worry...

2, if not calculated

Chai Rong's abacus, we can't say wrong, but from the result, it is not ideal, and it did not take long for Zhao Kuangyin to exploit the loophole.

So, let's assume that if Chai Rong suddenly died violently and did not arrange for his death, what would be the situation?

Normally, the transfer of power between the harem and the civil officials should be similar to Chai Rong's arrangement. Fan Qian was definitely the prime minister, and if the prime minister and the chancellor wanted to choose an empress, it would be 80% of Fu Yanqing's daughter, and they also wanted to use Fu Yanqing's daughter to contain the Tianxiong army in the capital.

On the side of the military generals, zhang Yongde was inspected in front of the palace, and Li Chongjin, who was commanded by the guards and horse infantry, had their own forces, and they were all relatives of the emperor and the state, and they were high and powerful, sitting in the capital and checking each other.

What would it be like if the above arrangements were followed?

Zhang Yongde was honest and loyal to the emperor; Lee Chongg-jin is a takeshi, and the force value is bursting, but he has no brains. If these two people do not deal with each other, they are bound to split into two factions and fight each other. However, with these two people sitting in the capital, it is difficult for others to try to insert a foot. Zhao Kuangyin, do a good job of being your emissary. You are Zhang Yongde's subordinate, and there was an accident to Zhang Yongde, otherwise you will always be a subordinate, one step away, the end of the world, this step, Zhao Kuangyin will not be able to step over.

If you follow the above arrangement, that is, you do not need to arrange, go with the flow.

In the first situation, Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin were two people equally matched, in the capital of the open struggle, no one can overthrow anyone, this is actually the best situation, the young emperor in the struggle between the two slowly grew up, if Xiao Chai Zongxun is smarter, and then use the struggle between the two, slowly weaken the two, and finally smoothly take over the baton of power, and then find a way to weaken the two. There are many such examples, and if you look at how Cao Rui dealt with Cao Zhen and Sima Yi, you will know that although it is difficult, it is not so difficult.

In the second situation, Li Chongjin overthrew Zhang Yongde, this person is more tyrannical, often bullying the little emperor, but after all, it is the little emperor's cousin, plus Li Chongjin's popularity is not good, and he kills, others are afraid that he will monopolize the power, he wants to replace the little emperor is also difficult, at most often bully the little emperor. The little emperor has been wronged for more than ten years at most, and when the little emperor grows up, it should not be too difficult to regain power from Li Chongjin's hands, after all, Li Chongjin's brain cannot think of uniting with the famous and prestigious clans to consolidate their power, and the famous and prestigious clans are not expected to take the initiative to come together to take care of him. If Chai Rong's son can't even do this, then there is nothing to regret when he is not an emperor.

In the third situation, Zhang Yongde overthrew Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde was honest, but he was not honest with Li Chongjin, but honest people were still very popular, Fan Qian, Wang Bo, Wei Renpu, and the civilian official group were more likely to side with Zhang Yongde. Then don't worry, honest people may even omit to bully the emperor.

Of course, there is a fourth possibility, these two goods, in the process of fighting each other, were exploited by others, taking advantage of their discord, and developed and grown, such as Zhao Kuangyin's emerging forces. However, this will take a long time, after all, Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde are very prestigious in the military, and they have their own concubines. Zhao Kuangyin relied on the emerging forces in the army to develop and grow, and if Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin sat in the capital, the emerging forces would have to be suppressed for several years or even ten years before they could rise. At that time, the little emperor also became a young emperor, and it was difficult to replace it.

How to see, the above four possibilities, which one is better than Chai Rong's arrangement.

Sometimes, that's it, and the arrangements you've worked so hard to make, the arrangements you've done, may not have an effect on what you're going to do with the situation. This is like children learning, some children are more obedient, timid, according to the arrangement of parents, go to tutoring classes, interest classes, on time, after school, will develop well, a smooth life. However, it is not excluded that some children, he is rebellious, assertive, bold, the more the parents arrange, the more he feels that the sense of existence is weak, the more rebellious, and the occasional homeopathic guidance may be more effective for such children. Because of his assertiveness, once his subjective initiative is exerted, the effect of self-study may be higher than that of the tutoring class.

3) Not everyone can be counted

Chai Rong is a smart person, and smart people have a habit (which may also be wrong), like to arrange what is arranged, and others will do it according to his arrangement.

The most common examples, some women who do things very competently, generally do a lot of raiders before going out to travel, how to go to the airport, where is the first stop on the plane, what kind of hotel to stay at night, whether the tickets for the scenic spot are easy to buy, what special programs are in the scenic spot, how to see the most time-saving time, and you can also watch all the things in the scenic spot to the greatest extent in a day...

Very organized, the average person is lazy to use their brains, since someone arranged so reasonable and meticulous, then follow.

However, if you meet another smart person, he may pick out the fault of your raiders at a glance. This is not OK, it needs to be improved, and it is inevitable that there will be some controversy.

Chai Rong was still too afraid of his son being bullied, Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde was in a high position of power, and he was afraid that the little emperor would become a puppet. But he forgot that after all, one of these two people was the uncle of the little emperor, and the other was the uncle of the little emperor, and no matter how much he bullied, he was also bullied by his own family. It's like, your son is small, when he was a child, he was always bullied by his cousin and cousin, and this kind of bullying is also a little wronged, and he will not give a heavy hand. But when it comes to really fighting with outsiders and giving a heavy hand, it is still your cousin who helps you.

For Chai Rong's arrangement, Li Chongjin, who was brave and martial, had nothing to say, the emperor was jealous of himself, anyway, he was also clear about a few pounds and a few pounds, went to the capital and those civilian officials to fight with their hearts, it is estimated that they could not fight, or stay at the border pass comfortable, anyway, with Li Chongjin's position, what do you want to do at the border pass, as long as you are not attacked by Li Jing on the territory and make other mistakes, it is all forgivable, and no one dares to be held accountable, just be a snake at leisure.

Honest zhang Yongde has nothing to say, Lanzhou is not bad, the Central Plains, close to his hometown Shanxi, living habits are similar. Besides, this person is famous for having a good mentality, and if he is punished or something, he humbly accepts it, or he can not live to the age of 72, in ancient times, there were not many long-lived generals, in fact, there were not many long-lived people themselves.

However, can Zhao Kuangyin arrange it for the dead Chai Rong?

When Chai Rong was alive, Zhao Kuangyin obeyed his orders and took the lead. But don't forget, Zhao Kuangyin is also a smart person! From the time he became emperor of Guo Wei and jumped to Chai Rong's men, he could see the wisdom of this person.

When Chai Rong was alive, Zhao Kuangyin had absolutely no second thoughts. Chai Rong is the second Bole after Guo Wei and Zhao Kuangyin. Most of Zhao Kuangyin's skills were learned from Guo Wei, but most of Zhao Kuangyin's official positions were awarded by Chai Rong.

In 5 and a half years, from a small emperor who did not have many small officials who were close to the army, he rose all the way to the Forbidden Army Hall and led the Yan Prefecture Assassination History; To the front of the temple are commanded envoys, Kuang Guojun Jiedu envoys; Now, he has reached the position of the inspection in front of the palace, 5 and a half years, Zhao Kuangyin's promotion speed has exceeded one step a year, and he is definitely riding the elevator to ascend. In 959, the 33-year-old Zhao Kuangyin rose from a soldier on the side of the emperor to the highest position of the forbidden army in the capital.

However, obedience does not mean that you can be at the mercy of others. Zhao Kuangyin, who was qualified for the highest title in the military and was inspected in front of the palace, soon found out that he had been tricked by Chai Rong.

Zhao Kuangyin's military rank is not wrong, the first soldier, in front of the palace are inspected, the goods are genuine. But in the capital, where high-ranking officials are everywhere and everyone has been in business for many years, this rank is just a blank check.

Fan Qian, Wang Bo, and Wei Renpu pressed on his head first. Fan Tian, this person is very talented, and legend has it that on the evening of her birth, his mother dreamed that the immortal gave her a five-color pen. Fan Zhi was intelligent and studious since childhood, able to write poetry at the age of nine, studying poetry at the age of thirteen, and recruiting apprentices as teachers at the age of fourteen. A proper prodigy, and Fan Qian was born into a family of officials and eunuchs, and his family education was very good from an early age, and he did not become a "wounded Zhongyong".

During Shi Chonggui's reign, Guo Wei rebelled, and every time the imperial court sent emissaries to deal with the military, it was in line with the opportunity. Guo Wei asked the emissary who had drafted the edict, and the emissary replied that it was a model. Zhou Zu sighed, "It's really the material of the Prime Minister!"

Guo Wei raised troops from Yidi to attack the imperial palace, the capital was chaotic, Fan Wei hid the people, Guo Wei sent people to look everywhere, and later found, very happy, it was snowing heavily, Guo Wei took off his robe and let Fan Wei wear it. Fan Qian was appointed as a military attendant and a privy councillor.

What is remarkable is that this man is not only intelligent, but also studious and tireless. Even when he became a high official, Fan Qian often couldn't release the scrolls, and others said that this was too hard, and Fan Qian said: "If you don't learn where to handle political affairs?"

Zhao Kuangyin, give me honesty, the old man has worked tirelessly all his life, and the knowledge and means he has learned are used to deal with your slippery head.

In addition to being smart and studious, Fan is also strong and dares to make decisions.

Before Chai Rong died, he summoned Fan Qian and said, "The Scholar of Hanlin, Wang Zhu, is a deceased man of the Yuan's mansion, and if he cannot afford it, when he is summoned to the prime minister, he must not forget it."

Fan Zhi agreed, turned and left the palace, and said to the person who had just heard the emperor's words: "Wang Zhu is an alcoholic, how can this person enter the picture, the emperor arbitrarily appoints, it is not inconvenient to obey, everyone do not disclose this matter, as if it did not happen."

Look, before the emperor could catch his breath, he erased the emperor's personal title of king. 33-year-old Zhao Kuangyin, you have a few pounds and a few pairs, and everyone who wants to listen to my fan quality.

The imperial court was suppressed by Fan Zheng, Wang Bo, and Wei Renpu, and outside the imperial court was controlled by Han Tong, but in fact, the main military power in the capital was still in the hands of Han Tong. Moreover, although Zhao Kuangyin has a high official position, he is young and has shallow seniority, and in China, where seniority is ranked, Zhao Kuangyin basically has no right to speak.

Zhao Kuangyin was very depressed, was he such a person who was led by the nose of others?

4. Fatal vulnerability

Chai Rong arranged it like this, and it seems that there is no problem! Except for the prime minister, there is no check or balance, and the others hold each other back and balance each other. And Fan Qian, he is a civilian official, and he has no military power, at most, he has more right to speak in the affairs of the imperial court, and he will not turn the sky upside down.

Yes, until Chai Rong's death, and after his death, such an arrangement was no problem. The problem was that things were always in constant flux, and Chai Rong didn't have philosophy at that time, he could only think of what he saw, and he couldn't think of what he couldn't see.

As the emperor, Chai Rong, ri Li Wanji, his eyes focused on the middle and upper level officials, military generals. No matter how low, the martial general must be zhao kuangyin's level. He forgot that as early as the second year of his succession, he put Zhao Kuangyin in charge of forming a new forbidden army and forming an army with strong combat effectiveness.

This army was formed by Zhao Kuangyin, and the main candidates in it were all hand-picked by Zhao Kuangyin. In the past, they may have been just a humble squad leader, but in the past few years, when they have fought wars year after year, there will be people who have made meritorious contributions to the war, and those who have made meritorious contributions will be promoted and raised.

More than 4 years ago, the new forbidden army formed by Zhao Kuangyin, there have been many people who have begun to show their prominence, although their positions are still very low, but they are young, fleshy, and hope to progress... They are on the rise of their careers.

After the new emperor succeeded to the throne, he handled Chai Rong's funeral and officially took over the baton of power. According to the custom, it is necessary to reward hundreds of officials to show Huang Enhao.

It was this collective promotion and salary increase that made subtle changes in the otherwise calm Beijing workplace. Zhao Kuangyin's "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society" and zhao Kuangyin's subordinates directly promoted occupied 70% of the middle-level leadership positions in the capital.

It should be known that in a detachment, the people who directly command the soldiers are all at the middle and low levels, while the highest level, which only has the decision-making power to give orders, does not directly command the soldiers.

This is a huge loophole!

Unfortunately, this loophole was ignored by the chancellor Fan Qian, and the deputy envoy of the guard horse infantry army, Han Tong (the commander of the guard horse infantry army was still Li Chongjin, but because he was not in the capital, Han Tong actually controlled the military power of the guard horse infantry army).

But there is one person who can see this loophole at a glance, this person is Han Tong's son Han Wei (also known as Han Jue). This person, like Yan Song's son Yan Shifan, had a physical disability, but was particularly intelligent (in ancient times, people with physical disabilities could not become officials). He had reminded his father several times to simply kill Zhao Kuangyin to avoid any trouble, but unfortunately Han Tong never took his words seriously.

Yan Song was different, and Yan Song's strategies were basically based on his son Yan Shifan.

This loophole, Han Wei could see at a glance, zhao Kuangyin naturally could see it at a glance. Zhao Kuangyin's first reaction, isn't this putting himself on the stove?

No, if you stay in the capital again, I am afraid that I will not be able to save my life. Chai Rong died in June of that year, and in July Zhao Kuangyin applied to leave the capital and return to Guide Province (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), because it was his fiefdom and there were a bunch of government documents that he needed to deal with.

Fan Zhi and Han Tong received Zhao Kuangyin's request, without the slightest objection, I would like you to leave, don't get in the way here. Also, take away your subordinates, Zhao Pu, Chu Zhaofu, Wang Renzhan, and so on, and there is no place for them in the capital. However, if your family wants to stay, all the great generals of all dynasties and dynasties must leave their families in the capital, this is the rule, but it cannot be broken.

Zhao Kuangyin was also very happy, and for Fan Qian's request, he complied with them one by one, and in July, he left his wife, children, old and young, and went to GuideFu with his retinue and assistants.

Finally left the capital, temporarily safe!

【Original article, please indicate the source, author】

References: Zizhi Tongjian, History of Song, History of the Five Dynasties, Biography of Su Dongpo, Record of Taizu, Eighteen Emperors of the Song Dynasty, If This Is the History of Song, etc.