The founders of a country often had some extraordinary circumstances. Either their mother was crushed by a mythical beast before they were born, or their house was filled with red light when they were born. Li Cunxu, the founding emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, did not have this. His extraordinary fortune was given by people.

Li Keyong once took his son to see Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. When Emperor Zhaozong saw the young boy's bravery and uprightness, he touched his back and said, "This child will become a pillar of his generation when he grows up." He also rewarded Li Cunxu with many gold and silver treasures.

Li Keyong himself often boasted to others, "This boy has high ambitions and will definitely succeed in my career." Even his mother also praised him in various ways.

It's a pity that until Li Keyong died, his son didn't show anything extraordinary, but he was very good at writing lyrics and singing songs. Compared with Li Keyong, who had the ability to kill two birds with one stone when he was young, Li Cunxu was really far behind.

Li Cunxu, who took over Hedong at the age of twenty-three, had no prestige at all. A bunch of brothers and adopted sons of Li Keyong were eyeing him, but Li Cunxu did not jump out to confront them. He first used retreat to advance and pretended to be a weak monarch.

He cried and wanted to pass the position of King Jin to his uncle Li Kening.

Li Kening was ambitious, but he was too thin-skinned. If he had really abandoned his old face and followed the trend, nothing would have happened to Li Cunxu. Li Kening, who had already declined, regretted it afterwards. He even secretly communicated with Zhu Wen and was also arrested.

Li Cunxu took the blame.

Then Li Cunxu found someone who was at odds with Li Kening to sow discord. He cried with snot and tears. Since his uncle wanted to be the king of Jin so much, he might as well give the throne to him.

These people are at odds with Li Kening. If he becomes the king of Jin, he will not live a good life. Besides, Hedong and Zhu Wen have a bitter feud. Knowing that Li Kening is flirting with his enemies, everyone is furious.

.With the support of everyone, Li Cunxu held a Hongmen Banquet and got rid of his uncle neatly.

Although I don’t understand why Li Cunxu suddenly turned into a political idiot after proclaiming himself emperor, I have to say that his political skills were really good at this time.

It is not enough to have power, but prestige is needed to secure the throne. Li Cunxu was the first to attack his old enemy Zhu Wen. When Li Keyong died, the war between Jin and Liang was not over yet in Luzhou.

Hearing that Li Cunxu was dead, Liang Jun immediately relaxed his vigilance, thinking that it was impossible for Hedong Xinsang to launch a large-scale battle. However, Li Cunxu took advantage of Liang Jun's mentality and led his army to sneak attack in the fog. In this battle, the Jin army beheaded more than 10,000 people.

Many were captured.

Li Cunxu fought the battle so neatly that Zhu Wen, who was far away in Luoyang, couldn't help but lamented when he heard the news, "This is how you should give birth to a son. The Li family will not die. My sons are just pigs and dogs." Zhu Wen didn't know that this was just the beginning.

Li Cunxu was destined to be Zhu Liang's nemesis.

At that time, if Liang wanted to attack Jin, in addition to Luzhou on the western front, there was also an eastern front going through Weibo and Chengde to attack Taiyuan. The Weibo army had been controlled by Zhu Wen, and Wang Rong, the former military commander of the Chengde army, was named King of Zhao by Zhu Wen.

The two of them got married again, and the State of Zhao was regarded as a vassal state of the Later Liang Dynasty. However, a vassal state is a vassal state after all, and there is no such thing as being secure in one's hands.

Zhu Wen then used the excuse of defending Li Cunxu to send troops to garrison Zhao State, waiting for an opportunity to annex it. When Wang Rong saw Zhu Wen's plan, he turned around and asked Li Cunxu for help. Everyone in Hedong thought it was a trick, but Li Cunxu said: "If I have doubts, I will be hit.

Zhu Liang’s treacherous plan!”

Li Cunxu decisively sent troops, combined with the Yiwu Army of Zhao State and another small vassal town in Hebei, and fought with the Liang Army in Baixiang. One hundred thousand Liang Army lost all. It is not that the Liang Army was basically deceived to death because of its poor combat power.

The Battle of Baixiang made Li Cunxu famous, which greatly changed the offensive and defensive trends of Jin and Liang, and also greatly weakened the strength of the Liang State.

After successive military defeats and the death of the virtuous Mrs. Zhang, Zhu Wen became more and more decadent and indulgent, bringing hundreds of beauties to the palace to enjoy. As this was not enough, he actually set his sights on his daughter-in-law like Li Laosan.

Compared with Zhu Laosan, Li Laosan still wanted to save face. After all, he allowed Yang Yuhuan to be a Taoist nun for two years, and then officially appointed her as a concubine. This was the only one he had in his life. Zhu Laosan, who was born as a country bumpkin, was not so particular.

Pull it over and get on it, the more the merrier.

His sons were not so indignant. Seeing their father's hobby, they all sent their wives to the palace to fight for favor in order to gain the throne of Daliang.

The funny thing is that Zhu Wen actually used this as a criterion to determine the heir to the throne. In the end, the wife of his adopted son Zhu Youwen, Wang, won the battle for the dragon bed. In addition, Zhu Wen already favored Zhu Youwen, and he had already confirmed in his heart that Zhu Youwen was the heir to the throne.

Another daughter-in-law, Mrs. Zhang, heard Zhu Wen's secret message and went home to tell her husband, Zhu Yougui, about the matter. Zhu Yougui immediately became angry. "My wife let you do it, but you passed the throne to an outsider. How could you just let it go?"

.

Zhu Yougui couldn't bear it anymore and led his troops into the palace, killing his naked father on the bedside. The great hero Zhu Wen died like this, and his death was extremely disgraceful. Zhu Wen was also mentioned in infamy in later generations.

For example, he killed many people, killed the king and became emperor, prostituted his daughter, and stripped his daughter-in-law of his daughter-in-law. But there are many emperors who have done these things. At least Zhu Wen can pat his chest and say that I have built my empire with one sword.

But the reason why Zhu Wen's reputation is so bad is very simple. Like the other founding emperor named Zhu, he offended scholars.

In the second year of Emperor Aizong's Tianyou reign in the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen killed Prince Zhaozong and more than thirty ministers at the same time. One of his aides named Li Zhen deeply hated these well-dressed aristocrats and successful Jinshi because he failed in many tests.

He said: "This generation often thinks of itself as a clear stream, so why not throw their corpses into the Yellow River and turn it into a turbid stream." Zhu Wen smiled and followed.

Another time, he and a group of staff scholars were enjoying the shade under a willow tree and deliberately set a trap for these people. He patted the willow tree and said, "This tree is thick enough to make a wheel." Someone immediately jumped out and patted him, "You are right.

This tree is indeed suitable for making wheels."

Zhu Wen then sneered, "Willow wood is fragile, and wheels can only be made of elm wood. You people are useless except for flattering." Then he asked the guards to kill all the flattering scholars on the spot.

These two things alone are enough to make the narrow-minded literati hold grudges for thousands of years. Don't offend the literati if you offend anyone. It only takes a few strokes of a pen to make you infamy for eternity.

Zhu Wen was indeed mean to literati, but he respected those with real talent and learning. There was no shortage of scholars with real talent and learning under Zhu Wen, such as Xie Tong, Jing Xiang, Li Qi, Sima Ye, etc.

Later generations have slightly different standards for evaluating whether a regime is legitimate and whether an emperor is great. In addition to his achievements, he pays more attention to whether he treats the people well.

Zhu Wen, who was full of stains in this regard, did it. Before he became emperor, Zhu Wen restrained his soldiers, used light corvee services to attract refugees, appointed capable officials to resume production, and created a stable environment for the people on his own territory.

Even though the two sides of Jin and Liang later fell into ten years of bitter fighting, there was no large-scale flight of the people under the rule.

In addition, the famous cattle rent issue in the economic history of the Five Dynasties can also illustrate Zhu Wen's care for the people. Zhu Wen once sent troops to attack Yang Xingmi in Huainan. Although he failed, he robbed more than 100,000 cattle from Huainan. Zhu Wen did not let the soldiers kill and eat them.

The meat was not sold, but distributed to poor people for a small amount of cattle rent.

That's a cow. In ancient times, a farm cow was more affectionate than a daughter-in-law!

When the Later Liang Dynasty fell, these cattle were basically dead, but in the three dynasties that followed, the Later Tang Dynasty, the Later Han Dynasty, and the Later Jin Dynasty, no one forgot to collect the cattle rent from the people that should not belong to them, until Guo Wei became emperor in the Later Zhou Dynasty.

, cattle rent had just been abolished. In the eyes of the people of the Later Liang Dynasty, this old man with a gangster spirit, a gambling habit and a penchant for picking off ashes was a qualified and good emperor.

From a historical perspective, Zhu Wen also made great contributions. First of all, he smashed the decayed signs of the Tang Dynasty. The most important thing is that he laid a larger foundation for future partial unification. In the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, he was very important.

It's not easy. Li Keyong's brave crow army can only defend the east of the river with its good fighting skills.

Human nature is so complex and multifaceted, and interpreting and evaluating a person based on one aspect is inevitably biased.

After Zhu Wen's death, the Liang Dynasty did not die, and Zhu Yougui succeeded to the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. He had a bad background and was the result of Zhu Wen's whim and a lowly prostitute. Whether he was a descendant of the old Zhu family, Zhu Wen may not have known.

He was sure of it, so he didn't like him and beat him from time to time.

The key point is that Zhu Yougui also committed regicide and father-killing. Everyone was not convinced by him, so they decided to establish another one. As mentioned before, Zhu Wen had a virtuous and profound Madam Zhang, and many civil and military officials received her favors.

Have great respect for her.

Zhu Youzhen, the son of Mrs. Zhang, was "serious and taciturn, elegant and a Confucian scholar". He looked like a wise king, so he simply supported him as emperor. With the support of Yang Shihou, the governor of Wei Bojun, Zhu Youzhen launched a mutiny and invaded Luoyang.

He forced Zhu Yougui to commit suicide, then moved the capital to Bianliang and proclaimed himself emperor, which was the last emperor of Liang Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen was the son of Zhu Wen's most beloved woman, and he was also the eldest son. It would be best to make him his heir. But Zhu Wen didn't. It wasn't that he was old and confused. As for the reason, Zhu Youzhen quickly used his series of

Stupidity explained.

Wei Bojun was one of the most powerful feudal vassals in the Later Liang Dynasty. Yang Shihou relied on his support and was a bit arrogant and domineering, which made Zhu Youzhen feel threatened for a time. He finally beat Yang Shihou to death, but Wei Bojun was still a thorn in the side, and Wei Bo was the front line of the Jin-Liang Dynasty struggle.

,Geographic location is very important. What if one day the rebellion breaks out?

Soon, a treacherous minister named Zhao Yan gave Zhu Youzhen a bad idea, which was to split Wei Bojun in two, making the smaller one easier to control. It sounds reasonable, but it depends on the actual situation.

Wei Bojun was originally an old tribe of Anshi, with a history of more than a hundred years. It implemented a hereditary military system and had continuous intermarriage for more than a hundred years. All the soldiers in the army were elder brothers, and their relationship was close and complicated. To split them into two is simply a fantasy.

When the Tang Dynasty was still there, Wei Bojun was a thorn in the side, and he would make some noise from time to time. Alas, this Jiedushi didn't know how to serve people. The brothers chopped off his head and asked the court to send another one. This kind of thing

It's common.

They were not even afraid of the Tang court, so how could they be afraid of Zhu Liang? After receiving the order from the court, Wei Bojun drew a knife to kill people, and on the other hand, he went to inform Li Cunxu, "I'm going to do it with you now!"

Li Cunxu had just taken care of Liu Shouguang in Youzhou, and he already had the conditions for a southern expedition. When he felt sleepy, someone would send him a pillow. There was no reason not to catch up with such a piece of pie falling from the sky.

Do you understand why Zhu Wen didn't pass the throne to Zhu Youzhen? "Being an elegant and Confucian scholar" is really not an advantage in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, especially for an emperor.

There is a group of people gathered around Zhu Youzhen, such as Zhao Yan, Duan Ning and others, who have no real talent and knowledge and can only flatter others and make bad ideas.

These are all things Zhu Wen hated back then. He was able to rise rapidly back then, to a certain extent, because he was ruthless to the so-called Confucian scholars. Even the ruthless and unreasonable Zhu Yougui might be stronger than Zhu Youzhen in the world.

Zhu Youzhen shot himself in the foot and lost the portal of Wei Bo. The offense and defense between Jin and Liang were completely reversed. However, after Liang had established internal stability for many years and had strong internal strength, it was not easy for Li Cunxu to eat Zhu Liang, but he couldn't stand Zhu Youzhen's side.

A group of pig teammates.

There was also a famous general named Liu Wei in the Back Liang Dynasty. He was very loyal to the Back Liang Dynasty because of Zhu Wen's kindness, but Zhu Youzhen couldn't trust him just as he couldn't trust Wei Bojun. Liu Wei wanted to attack Taiyuan by surprise and asked the court to give the soldiers ten days of rice grain. It was ridiculous that Zhu Youzhen doubted it.

He defrauded rice grains and defected to Li Cunxu.

Liu Wei lamented helplessly, "The Lord lives in palace confinement and does not know military affairs. He conspired with the white-faced son and ultimately defeated the people!"

Everything went as Liu Wei expected. He was fighting on the front line, but he was constantly hampered by the rear. He suffered more defeats and fewer victories. But with his strong backbone, Li Cunxu could not swallow the rear beams after all.

However, Li Cunxu also had Zhu Youzhen as his best assister. After Zhao Yan, Duan Ning and others continued to frame him, Zhu Youzhen finally made up his mind to give Liu Wei a bowl of poisonous wine.

Li Cunxu woke up from his dream and laughed happily. He happily proclaimed himself emperor in Weibo and changed Weibo to Xingtang Palace, which was very mocking to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen destroyed his foundation and could only watch helplessly as the Later Tang army invaded Bianliang. He had no choice but to commit suicide. His head was washed and painted and sent to the Later Tang Ancestral Temple to become Li Cunxu's trophy.

Relying on Hedong, it took more than ten years to gradually unify the areas north of the Huaihe River. It was not easy in the troubled times of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Li Cunxu was a well-deserved strange man. People once regarded him as "Tang Guangwu".

It was believed that the renaissance of the Tang Dynasty was possible and the unification of the world seemed to be just around the corner.

But no one expected that what this "Tang Guangwu" did after the destruction of Liang was shocking, and his empire also took a turn for the worse, plunging from the clouds into the mud.

If Zhu Youzhen was seeking death, then Li Cunxu was seeking death through all kinds of tricks. Li Cunxu himself had serious character flaws. In the early stages of developing his career, he suppressed his existential crisis and had two life mentors to supervise and guide him, so he did not commit any crime.

Fatal error.

There was Zhang Chengye, an old eunuch stationed in Hedong by the Tang Dynasty. After Zhu Wen destroyed the eunuch group, Prime Minister Cui Yin ordered each feudal town to kill the local eunuchs. However, Li Keyong admired Zhang Chengye very much and took his head to fool him.

Zhang Chengye was grateful and loyal to Li Keyong. Although he could not lead troops to fight, he was a good hand in managing government affairs. He was Xiao He and Li Shanchang of Hedong.

With the successive victories in the war against Liang, Li Cunxu could no longer be satisfied mentally by the title of King of Jin. He ignored Zhang Chengye's pleas and insisted on proclaiming himself emperor in Weibo, which angered Zhang Chengye to death.

Another life mentor, Zhou Dewei, was not only good at leading troops in battle, but also had a sophisticated vision and wisdom. He could be regarded as Xu Da from Hedong. Everyone said that Li Cunxu was great in martial arts, but Zhou Dewei's shadow was indispensable behind him.
To be continued...