Like Li Cunshen, Li Siyuan also had a personal army that followed him for a long time. The future of Li Siyuan's personal army was even greater than that of Li Cunshen's personal army, and many of them became very prominent figures later. One of them was a powerful general named Gao Xingzhou, the son of Gao Siji, the former general Lulong who was plotted by Liu Rengong.

During the battle between Li Cunxu and Yan, Gao Xingzhou brothers were included in his own army by Li Siyuan. At that time, they joined Li Siyuan's personal army, and Yuan Xingqin, the already famous brave general at that time. Li Cunxu liked Yuan Xingqin's bravery very much. After hearing about this, Li Siyuan asked Li Siyuan to present Yuan Xingqin to himself. Li Siyuan dared not refuse, so Yuan Xingqin escaped from Li Siyuan's personal army, joined Li Cunxu's personal army, and changed his name to Li Shaorong, becoming Li Cunxu's most trusted confidant general.

During a battle with the Liang army, Li Shaorong was trapped in a siege and could not rush out. He was also hit by a sword on his face, his face was covered in blood, and his life was almost in danger. At the critical moment, Gao Xingzhou broke into the siege and rescued Li Shaorong. This battle made Li Cunxu discover: It turned out that there were such outstanding warriors under Li Siyuan. Unfortunately, he missed it when he asked for someone last time!

Li Cunxu originally wanted to ask Li Siyuan for someone again, but he had already taken Yuan Xingqin away last time, so he felt a little embarrassed to speak up, so he changed his strategy and sent someone to find Gao Xingzhou privately to provide a higher salary and a better future as bait, and persuade Gao Xingzhou to come to his own army.

Gao Xingzhou was a more loyal person and replied: "General Li was in charge of employed people, and he was also in charge of the country. Doing things for the general manager is no different from doing things for the king. Our Gao brothers were able to survive the disaster because of General Li's great kindness. How could he bear to betray him!" So, as the monarch, Li Cunxu, was unable to dig another general of his favorite from his brother-in-law.

From Li Cunxu's perspective, isn't "doing things for the general manager and doing things for the king" just nonsense? If the same is true, do I still have to spend time poaching people? Regardless of whether Li Cunshen or Li Siyuan is his righteous brother or not, no matter how loyal and reliable their usual performance is, as long as they hold an elite army that they cannot control, this is a hidden danger.

Unless, like Li Cunshen, his personal soldiers were offered, these people "work for the general manager" and "work for the king" could be considered true. In the past, when fighting against the Liang Dynasty, Li Cunxu would not have any excessive objections to the practices such as senior generals that could improve their overall combat effectiveness.

But now, although it cannot be said that the world is peaceful, at least in Li Cunxu's opinion, the biggest and most difficult cunning rabbit is over. It is time to weaken the lackeys' strength, especially those veterans who are older than themselves and can fight.

Therefore, from the changes in the ownership of Li Cunshen's own fangs, we can see another truth hidden under the appearance: it is to squeeze out Li Cunshen, not just Guo Chongtao's victory alone. For Guo Chongtao, this is just a phased achievement in the struggle in the officialdom. If he is proud and complacent after achieving such a little result, he will stop moving forward, so what big thing can he do? The officialdom is in a row, and if he does not advance, he will retreat. Guo Chongtao dares not relax at all, so he can only take advantage of the victory and pursue the battlefield.

At the beginning of the second year of Tongguang, Li Cunxu was about to hold an unprecedented grand ceremony in the southern suburbs of Luoyang.

The great ceremony for offering sacrifices to heaven. He wanted to formally report to God that his revival of the Tang Dynasty had been successful. All civil and military officials in the court will participate in this ceremony, and everyone is proud of it and look forward to it. In order to achieve the common celebration of the world and to allow more people to enjoy the grace of heaven, Li Cunxu also issued two imperial edicts:

First, the establishment of the court officials should be expanded. He wanted to recall the eunuchs who fled to Luoyang after Zhu Wen launched a massacre and arranged work. So the eunuchs in Li Cunxu's palace immediately expanded from more than 500 to more than 1,000. Li Cunxu planned to restore the late Tang system and dispatch military inspectors to various places, and now there are enough personnel.

Secondly, the remnants of the Tang Dynasty and their descendants who were scattered all over the country came to participate in the ceremony of worshiping the sky. The court would give officials as appropriate, so that they could bathe in the glory of the Tang Dynasty and enjoy the peace of the prosperous times! So more than a thousand people rushed to Luoyang to report with their family tree. For a time, Luoyang gathered in the crown and the scene was quite spectacular.

At this moment, Youzhou sent an emergency military newspaper: A Khitan army invaded the border and bypassed Youzhou, and had already penetrated into Waqiao! These Khitans were really too annoying, how to deal with them? Li Cunxu asked Guo Chongtao, and he quickly suggested: Since General Manager Li was in poor health, he had to let Deputy General Manager Li go to war. Wasn’t it the two of them who taught the Khitans a lesson under Youzhou City back then?

Li Cunxu immediately ordered Li Siyuan to be appointed as the envoy of the northern camp, and the Liang Dynasty surrendered general Huo Yanwei as his deputy. The eunuch world leader Li Shaohong, who had just returned from Youzhou, was the supervisor of the army, and headed the army north to deal with the Khitans. The three people joined forces to be good friends, and the possibility of opposing the court should be slim.

A great god was invited away. It seems that an opponent like Li Cunshen and Li Siyuan, who seem to be very powerful, is actually not difficult to deal with. But when Guo Chongtao looked back, in addition to the more favored actors around Li Cunxu, a large number of eunuchs and new court officials were pouring in. These people are also potential opponents, and Guo Chongtao did not take it seriously for the time being. He is not afraid of strong enemies, let alone these weak enemies?

Guo Chongtao made great efforts and continued to attack officials who could divide his power for the sake of his own and his country's cause. Since the enemies were different, the methods had to be different. In order to deal with these younger generations, Guo Chongtao found another weapon of killing, which was a clan system that was about to be eliminated.

Since he recognized Guo Ziyi as his grandfather, Guo Chongtao, who was in charge of the personnel department, has always regarded himself as a famous family and rejected the family on the grounds of his family! When dealing with these people, Guo Chongtao's common words are: "I know you are very capable, but you are of such a low background. If I appoint you, wouldn't I be ridiculed by celebrities?" This move is quite powerful and can be regarded as a very powerful weapon.

According to Li Cunxu's promise, a large number of left-off officials from the former Tang Dynasty came to participate in the ceremony of worshiping heaven, as alternate officials, waiting to be appointed to the officials. If the emperor's promise is fully fulfilled, the court will add more than a thousand officials who will be unsuccessful. This is not a negligible expense for the Later Tang Dynasty court, which had not had a good normal tax income.

What's more, these people will squeeze out the already scarce official positions when they come. Guo Chongtao also wanted to use these official positions to arrange those who have made contributions and those whom he trusted to do things. Due to the war in the late Tang Dynasty, many aristocratic families fell into the trap. When they were poor, they had long sold things like proving their family status and edicts to low prices.

Defeat others.

Many generations and genealogies have long been distorted, and there are many people who are not fake. Not to mention others, Guo Chongtao himself is a typical example. Guo Chongtao judges others by himself, and it is easy to think: Maybe many of these guys are also pretending to be relatives. I can just walk alone in this shortcut, how can so many people squeeze in?

So Guo Chongtao decided to crack down on this unfair trend of impersonation. He asked the Ministry of Personnel to strictly assess the various documents such as prosecutors and family tree sent by these alternate officials. Any doubts would not be recognized. There were more than 1,200 former Tang officials who participated in the ceremony of worshiping the heavens. In the end, only dozens of people were able to be awarded the title of officials.

In order to obtain the qualification to be an official, many of these eliminated alternate officials spent a lot of money in order to bribe the channels in private. Some people borrowed debts and returned them to repay them when they became officials. Who knew that Guo Chongtao's instructions made all their expenses was wasted! On the roads in Luoyang, alternate officials crying because of despair could be seen everywhere. Some people, because they owe too much debts, they had no way to go back, so they could only lie in the inn, waiting to starve to death, and cursed a name together: Guo Chongtao!

Of course, the people who were offended by Guo Chongtao are not just the alternate officials who were eliminated and no longer have the ability to fight back. They are just buyers who pay money in power and money transactions. The sellers who collect money around Li Cunxu were also offended by him. Because Guo Chongtao suddenly made this mistake, they sold their promise to be appointed as the official, but failed to fulfill their wishes. Even if there was no loss this time, the reputation of doing things with money was destroyed. Will there be as many people who are willing to spend money and bribe in the future?

Therefore, the actors and eunuchs around Li Cunxu kept saying bad things about Guo Chongtao to Li Cunxu. This was not to blame others. Originally, everyone was Li Cunxu’s confidant, so why should you be so troublesome and cut off other people’s financial resources? Guo Chongtao used his family as a weapon, sometimes it was powerful, but sometimes it failed. This involved an important figure, who was the former Wei Bodu envoy Kong Qian, who had made great efforts for the logistics of the Later Tang Dynasty after Zhang Chengye’s death.

Kong Qian and Guo Chongtao are quite similar. Both of them have talents, and have made significant contributions to Li Cunxu's career. They have strong desire for power, and are both determined to climb up. Of course, the difference is that Guo Chongtao generally talks about principles, while Kong Qian ignores principles. Therefore, Guo Chongtao is reluctant to let Kong Qian's official position have the opportunity to get close to himself.

Because the economic situation faced by the Later Tang Dynasty was relatively severe, it was very important to take charge of the position of Renmin Envoy, who was in charge of the right to collect taxes in the world. Kong Qian, who had been raising military supplies for several years in Wei Bo for Li Cunxu, was very confident and believed that this important position was his own. Since Guo Chongtao was upgraded from Wei Bo's Central Sect to the Privy Councilor of the Tang Dynasty, it was also natural for me to be promoted from Wei Bo's Duzhi to the Tang Dynasty's Renmin Envoy.

During the Later Liang Dynasty, the entrusted envoy was Zhao Yan and Zhu Youzhen's first confidant. This position was very important and could easily become the emperor's confidant. Guo Chongtao naturally thought that if Kong Qian, who was as talented and ambitious as himself, was a potential threat to him. So Guo Chongtao recommended Zhang Xian, who had a good relationship with him and was upright and humble in his family, was the reason why Kong Qian had a low family, and he was honest and humble, but he was not in charge of the accounts, as the entrusted envoy, and Kong Qian only got a deputy envoy.
Chapter completed!