In the fourth year of Tiancheng (929), King Ma Yin of Chu State, who was nearly eighty years old, knew that his days were numbered, and finally prepared to determine his successor. At this time, most of the heroes who had experienced the chaos and chaos of the late Tang Dynasty were dead, and the only ones who could be considered his peers were Ma Yin and Qian Liu are still alive in the world.

At this time, in terms of territory, the Chu State was already large enough. Compared with the vassal towns in the south of the Yangtze River, it was comparable to the Wu State, and larger than Wuyue, Nanhan, and Min. At the same time, it was also larger than the vassal states of Wu, Nanhan, and Jingnan. Peaceful coexistence has been achieved. Ma Yin feels that his life is considered successful, but he is not very satisfied with his sons, so he has never been able to determine the candidate for the crown prince.

The heroes of the same era as Ma Yin were all very capable, but most of their sons were mediocre. For example, Zhu Wen of the Later Liang Dynasty and Wang Jian of the Former Shu Dynasty, although they themselves were very capable, after their deaths, their sons were incompetent, resulting in The country was quickly destroyed. Yang Xingmi was known as the number one man in the South, but he gave birth to a bunch of incompetent sons. As a result, the country was controlled by others early.

Ma Yin witnessed the demise of these dynasties and vassal towns, and was very worried that after his death, a similar situation would occur in the country of Chu, so he chose his successor very carefully.

Ma Xizhen is the eldest son of Ma Yin and his first wife Liu Xinglan. He is good at reciting poems and writing lyrics. At this time, he has been promoted to the military governor of Wushun Army, and he is recognized by everyone as a wise man. In his spare time, Ma Xizhen often communicates with Chu A well-known eminent monk in the country once talked about poetry and poetry in Xu Zhong, and once said a good line: "Fairy fish are in the depths, and quiet birds have been standing for a long time."

As the eldest son of Ma Yin, Ma Xizhen was recognized as a wise man. At the same time, he had the support of Gao Yu and Ma Bin. He should have become the heir to the throne of Chu without any dispute. However, Ma Yin ultimately did not choose Ma Xizhen as Chu king. As the successor of the country, he chose his second son Ma Xisheng instead.

Ma Xisheng is Ma Yin's second son, second only to Ma Xizhen in age. Ma Xisheng was born to Ma Yin and his favorite De concubine Yuan Wenxiang. Because of his mother, Ma Xisheng was very favored and trusted by Ma Yin. Ma Yin had always treated De Concubine Yuan Wenxiang loved Yuan Wenxiang very much, so when it came to establishing a son, he would naturally prefer the son born to Concubine De. At the same time, Ma Xisheng also received strong support from Ma Yin's third brother Ma Cun. After all, Ma Cun had always had a good relationship with Wenxiang since Xuzhou went south. , naturally also prefers Ma Xisheng.

As the eldest son, Ma Xizhen, because his mother passed away early, although he received the support of Gao Yu and Ma Bin, he did not receive the full trust and reuse of Ma Yin. In addition to Ma Xizhen and Ma Xisheng, there are several other sons. Ma Xifan, Ma Xiwang, Ma Xi'e, and Ma Xigao are all over twenty years old. Ma Xifan is Ma Yin's third son, born to his wife Chen Dannv, and has pretty good abilities. Ma Xigao is born to Mrs. Hua, and he During his tenure as an official, he was good at managing internal affairs and won the hearts of the people.

Ma Yin was hesitant before, so he consulted several ministers for their opinions. Gao Yu first said: "Your Highness, since ancient times, it has been a matter of establishing a direct descendant or a virtuous person. Now, your eldest son, Xizhen, was born to Mrs. Liu and he is a wise man. At the same time, Mrs. Liu and His Highness have worked together in adversity, and because of their great contributions to His Highness, he should be made the crown prince." Ma Bin also supported Ma Xizhen because he had been with Liu Xinglan for a long time. Ma Bin therefore agreed with Gao Yu and said: "Brother, What Mr. Gao said is absolutely true, and I also think that Xizhen is the most suitable person."

But Ma Cun disagreed and said: "Brother, I think Xi Sheng is young, promising and capable, so Xi Sheng is the most suitable candidate." Ma Cun has always been close to Wen Xiang, so naturally he wants to speak for her son.

.Yuan Quan was Wen Xiang's uncle, and he also strongly recommended Ma Xisheng as the heir apparent. The four of them argued endlessly, which made Ma Yin feel in a dilemma.

Ma Yin had no choice but to ask the opinions of two other important ministers, Yao Yanzhang and Xu Dexun. However, Yao Yanzhang and Xu Dexun both said: "This is His Highness's family matter, and it should be decided by His Highness himself." After all, they were outsiders, and they also knew that Ma Yin's sons were doing this.

They competed with each other for the position of prince. They did not want to offend others, so they did not express their opinions.

Ma Yin was unable to make a decision for a while. After returning to the harem, he discussed the matter with Wen Xiang. Wen Xiang naturally wanted Ma Yin to make his son Xi Sheng the heir apparent. After all, Ma Yin loved Concubine Yuan De the most, so he chose Ma Xi Sheng as his successor. Although

Gao Yu strongly objected again, but this time Ma Yin did not adopt his suggestion, but listened to Concubine De's words. Ma Yin hoped that Wen Xiang would still be able to live comfortably after a hundred years.

In March of the fourth year of Tiancheng (AD 929), the seventy-eight-year-old Ma Yin felt unwell, so he immediately appointed Ma Xisheng to be in charge of political affairs.

He became the successor of the country and began to let Ma Xisheng take charge of daily affairs.

Although Ma Yin was still alive, Chu State began to enter the era of Ma Xisheng. Seeing that the big thing had been decided, the eldest son Ma Xizhen wisely gave up his official position and became a Taoist priest. After Ma Yin confirmed the position of Ma Xisheng's eldest son, he sent his third son to Ma Xisheng.

Ma Xifan was transferred to Langzhou as the military envoy of Yongshun Army, and Ma Xigao was appointed as the military commander of Jingjiang Army in Guizhou.

Ma Xisheng was naturally very excited when he became the crown prince. The first thing Ma Xisheng did after he became the prime minister of Chu State's military and political affairs was to take action against the achievements of Chu State. Gao Yu became Ma Xisheng's first choice. Since Gao Yu had always supported Ma Xizhen and had great power,

All these aroused Ma Xisheng's dissatisfaction, jealousy and suspicion.

Gao Yu knew Ma Yin from Yangzhou and had been assisting Ma Yin for thirty years.

Over the years, he has made great contributions to the development and growth of the Chu State and the stability of the country, and has become Ma Yin's unshakable number one schemer. His status is comparable to that of Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han Dynasty. However, although Gao Yu is super capable, he also has his fatal weakness.

. He is arrogant, conceited, lives a luxurious life, and is extremely greedy for money. He will do whatever it takes to enjoy money and enjoy it.

Gao Yu loves clean drinking water. He always suspects that the well water at home is not clean. In order to make the well water clean and pollution-free, he surrounds the entire well wall with silver leaves, from top to bottom, which is very special.

Extravagant and wasteful. Even drinking water must be protected with silver leaves. It is indeed a bit too luxurious. Gao Yu's behavior naturally angered many officials of Chu State. From time to time, officials impeached and reported Gao Yu for this. But Ma Yin said

He turned a deaf ear to these, and still respected and trusted Gao Yu, who remained unscathed.

Xiang, a resident of Chenzhou, once made a dragon. No matter how windy or rainy it was, it could not be extinguished. The dragon was finally burned to ashes, but its horns were not burned, but were as white as jade.

A rare treasure was collected by Xiang. After Gao Yu learned about it, he thought the dragon horn was very interesting, so he bought it from Xiang. Naturally, Xiang's careful collection of treasures was not willing to sell it to Gao Yu easily.

.

Gao Yu can be said to be inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people in Chu State. He immediately became angry, and he randomly estimated a price, and directly sent people to force the sale, half buying and half robbing, and took possession of this dragon horn. Someone.

He said to Gao Yu: "Is Gao Sima going to cause trouble? Why do you use such an ominous thing to bring bad luck?" But Gao Yu didn't think so.

Gao Yu was so high-profile and arrogant that he naturally became the number one figure among the civil and military officials of Chu State. Ma Yin's sons, especially Ma Xisheng, were naturally unhappy. They were worried that Gao Yu would threaten their succession, so they wanted to

Get rid of Gao Yu. Other civil and military officials in the Chu State were jealous of Gao Yu's long-term favor and enduring popularity, and many wanted to get rid of him.

The surrounding vassal towns also knew Gao Yu's role and status in the Chu State, so they could kill Gao Yu so that the Chu State would decline as soon as possible. From Ma Yin's sons, to most of the civil and military officials of the Chu State, to Chu

The country's neighbors are all very dissatisfied with Gao Yu, and there is even a tendency to join forces to kill Gao Yu.

When Ma Xifan left Luoyang, Li Cunxu played a trick to sow discord. Although it was not clever, Ma Xifan fell into the trap. After Ma Xifan returned to Chu, he repeatedly told Ma Yin bad things about Gao Yu. Although Ma Yin did not

Although he ignored it, it had a certain impact on Gao Yu's status in Chu State.

Gao Jixing of Jingnan also spared no effort to drive a wedge between Gao Yu and the Ma family. When Ma Xisheng was still the deputy envoy of Jiedu, Gao Jixing secretly wrote a letter to Ma Xisheng. The content of the letter was very interesting and had almost nothing to do with Ma Xisheng. In the letter, Gao Jixing

He expressed his great appreciation for Gao Yu's abilities and achievements, so he decided to become sworn brothers with Gao Yu. Gao Jixing wanted to become sworn brothers with Gao Yu, but he sent these letters to Ma Xisheng, which was obviously an attempt to sow discord. However, Ma Yin saw through this plan.

It has no effect.

Not long after, Gao Jixing saw that this plan failed, so he came up with another plan. He simply sent spies to Chu State to spread unfavorable remarks about Gao Yu everywhere, such as "I heard that Gao Yu was re-employed in Chu State, and all the vassals were overjoyed, thinking that those who destroyed the Ma family would definitely

It's depression." "The Ma family's political affairs are all due to depression, which is a big worry for the descendants of the Ma family!"

Ma Xisheng's wife was Yang, the posthumous daughter of Yang, the Sima of the Marching Army. Relying on Ma Xisheng's relationship, the members of the Yang family began to be arrogant and domineering. Yang's elder brother, Yang Zhaosui, had already become the Sima of the Marching Army, but he was not greedy enough.

He was jealous of Gao Yu's position. He repeatedly told bad things about Gao Yu in front of his brother-in-law Ma Xisheng. The purpose was very clear, to get rid of Gao Yu and let him succeed Gao Yu and take charge of the financial power of Chu State.

Under the instigation of everyone, Ma Xisheng began to constantly list Gao Yu's various crimes in front of Ma Yin, such as corruption and bribery, extravagance and illegality, collusion with foreign enemies, liaison with powerful feudal lords, etc. If Gao Yu is not eliminated, he will be punished in the future.

Chu State has huge hidden dangers.

Gao Yu has followed Ma Yin for more than 30 years and is the founding father of the Chu State. Gao Yu and Ma Yin have a very deep relationship and have made great contributions to the Chu State. Ma Yin understands and trusts Gao Yu very well, and of course he will not easily

Take Ma Xisheng’s word for it.

Ma Yin said to his son seriously: "Gao Yu is the person who made the Ma family's hegemony possible. You must not say such things again in the future! We cannot treat him badly. You must respect Mr. Gao!"

Even though he was beaten, Ma Xisheng still refused to give up: It was okay to preserve Gao Yu, but it would be a very terrible thing to deprive Gao Yu of his military power and allow him to take control of the military. It was better to nip it in the bud.

Although Ma Yin did not believe the crimes listed by Ma Xisheng, he could not stand Ma Xisheng's repeated complaints. Of course, Ma Xisheng also spoke to Ma Yin through his mother, Concubine De, and Ma Xifan also had opinions on Gao Yu. Ma Yin finally chose to compromise and Gao Yu

He was demoted to the rank of Marching Sima, which relieved Gao Yu from some power. Ma Yin actually did it for Gao Yu's good, and he didn't want Gao Yu and his sons to have too much trouble.

However, Gao Yu did not realize Ma Yin's painstaking efforts. When he learned that Ma Yin, who had always respected him and obeyed his advice, had actually weakened his power, he became very rebellious and openly shouted: "I have served the King of Chu for many years, and now something big has happened."

It's done. I still have to run Xishan as soon as possible and prepare to retire and return to my hometown. The puppies are gradually growing up and can bite people." The arrogant and unruly Gao Yu directed his vent at Ma Xisheng, which of course also brought trouble to himself.

caused disaster.

Gao Yu's complaints soon reached Ma Xisheng's ears. Ma Xisheng was furious, and the conflict with Gao Yu completely broke out. In July of the fourth year of Tiancheng (929), Ma Xisheng forged a copy of Ma Yin's edict, which included the arrest of Ma Yin.

And Gao Yu was executed for treason! Ma Xisheng was already the actual leader of the Chu State at this time. Who dared to disobey his orders? In addition, Gao Yu was not very popular at ordinary times, and no one interceded for him at the critical moment. Gao Yu finally

On the charge of rebellion, Ma Xisheng was executed and his entire family was executed.

Ma Yin's other founding heroes, such as Li Qiong, Qin Yanhui, Xu Dexun, Yao Yanzhang, etc., most of them ended well, but Gao Yu was killed unjustly.

When Gao Yu was killed, Ma Yin was lying on the hospital bed. He had no idea that Mr. Gao Yu, whom he had respected for many years, was unjustly killed by his son.

One day, Ma Yin found that the weather was very strange. There was heavy fog and confusion, which seemed to be an ominous sign. Ma Yin said to the attendants around him: "When I followed Sun Ru, whenever Sun Ru killed innocent people indiscriminately,

From time to time, there will always be abnormal conditions in the sky. Are there unjust cases in prisons in our Changsha City now?"

Ma Yin's people knew that they could no longer hide it from Ma Yin, so they truthfully reported to Ma Yin the news that Gao Yu had been killed by Ma Xisheng. When Ma Yin heard that Gao Yu had been killed, he immediately beat his chest and cried loudly: "I'm really old

It’s useless, and the political affairs of Chu State no longer need to go through me, causing the meritorious ministers to suffer unjust deaths! I can’t stay in this place for long!”

Faced with his son Ma Xisheng's behavior of pretending to kill the minister, Ma Yin was helpless. After all, he was old and did not want to get into trouble. You know, although Ma Yin was seriously ill, he was still the king of Chu, and Ma Xisheng only

It was just an agency matter. With Ma Yin's huge prestige, Ma Xisheng could be deposed at any time. But Ma Yin chose to indulge and tolerate and did not punish Ma Xisheng.

When Ma Xisheng killed Gao Yu, Li Siyuan of Luoyang passed away. Li Siyuan was over sixty years old when he ascended the throne. He burned incense in the palace every night to pray to the gods and said: "I was originally a barbarian from the Shatuo tribe. I was killed due to the war.

Everyone elected him to succeed him; I hope God will send down a saint soon and be the monarch of the people." During Li Siyuan's reign, there were many good harvests and wars were rare.

Soon, King Li Conghou of the Song Dynasty arrived in Luoyang, where he became the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. After the death of King Qin Li Congrong, Zhu Hongshi's wife entered the palace and talked to Wang, who was in charge of clothing in the palace, about King Qin. Wang said: "As a prince, King Qin is not here."

His father was serving illness, so that he was accused of being accused. It was his own fault. If he was said to be treasonous, it would be too much to frame him. Zhu Situ was the most favored by the King of Qin. It was really shameful that he did not defend him at that time.

What a pity."

Zhu Hongshi was frightened when he heard these words, and together with Kang Yicheng, reported these words to Li Conghou. He also said that Wang had an affair with Li Congrong and spied on the affairs of the palace for Li Congrong. Li Conghou was naturally furious and ordered Wang to die. The matter was also implicated.

When he arrived at Concubine Wang Shu, Concubine Wang always treated Li Congrong very kindly, and Li Conghou became suspicious of Concubine Wang Shu from then on.

Then Li Conghou granted pardon to the world and changed the reign title to Yingshun. He also appointed Kang Yicheng, the military governor of Heyang and the commander of the bodyguards, as a minister to judge the military affairs of the six armies. Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun were jealous of An Yan, the commander of the bodyguards and horsemen.

Wei, the commander of the Imperial Guard Infantry Army, Zhang Congbin, the Zhongzheng Military Envoy, and others asked Li Conghou to transfer An Yanwei as the Protector of the Country, and appoint Zhu Hongshi, the commander of the Peng Sheng Horse Army, to replace him; and Zhang Congbin was appointed as the Zhangyi Military Envoy.

The envoy, appointed Huangfu Yu, the commander of the Yan Guard Infantry Army, to replace him.

Li Congke, the military governor of Tang Fengxiang and the minister of King Lu of Zhonglu, followed Li Siyuan with Shi Jingtang when they were young. They made meritorious deeds and gained popularity and popularity. The status and reputation of Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun were far behind those of Li Congke and Shi Jingtang.

As soon as Zhu and Feng took charge of the government, they hated these two people.

When Li Siyuan was ill, Lu Wang Li Congke often asked his wife to come to the palace to serve him. When Li Siyuan died of illness, Lu Wang Li Congke excused himself because he was ill. Among the people who visited Fengxiang, the imperial envoys claimed to have discovered the conspiracy of Lu Wang Li Congke.

Rebellion. At that time, Li Chongji, the eldest son of King Lu Li Congke, was appointed as the commander of the imperial capital in the imperial court. Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun did not want him to take charge of the military power in the ban, so they transferred him to be the training envoy of the Bozhou regiment. King Li Congke of Lu had a daughter, Li Huiming, who became a nun.

Living in Luoyang, he was also summoned to prison. This made Li Congke, the king of Lu, suspicious and fearful.

Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun did not want Shi Jingtang to live in Taiyuan for a long time, and wanted to recall Meng Hanqiong, who had the power to know Tianxiong Military Mansion. They moved Chengde Jiedushi Fan Yanguang as Tianxiong Jiedushi to replace Meng Hanqiong; they also sent Lu Wang Li Congke as Hedong Jiedushi.

, concurrently served as a stay-at-home officer in Taiyuan, the northern capital; moved Shi Jingtang to serve as the envoy of Chengde Festival. These transfers were not issued by the emperor, but envoys were sent to escort them to various towns with documents issued by the Privy Council.

The king of Lu, Li Congke, had become estranged from the imperial court, and the imperial court appointed Li Congzhang to take charge of Fengxiang affairs. Li Congzhang was rude and took pleasure in misfortune. He had previously replaced An Chongjie to guard the river and killed An Chongjie with his own hands. When Li Congke heard that he would be sent to replace him, he was heartbroken.

He was particularly disgusted and wanted to refuse the order of the imperial court, but he was weak and short of food. He didn't know what to do, so he discussed it with his generals. Everyone said: "The political affairs of the country are in the hands of Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun. Your Majesty has done a great job."

If you are famous and frighten the monarch, you will definitely not be able to protect yourself if you leave the town. You cannot accept someone else's replacement."
Chapter completed!