The soldiers of the Later Tang Dynasty worked hard for nothing and did nothing! They were naturally unwilling to accept the prosperous market in Chengdu, so they did it themselves and had enough food and clothing. Soon the military discipline of the Tang army was corrupt. As soon as the night came, soldiers left the military camp without authorization, went to the city to kill, set fire, rob and rape. At the same time, the armed forces of the Shu army resisting the Tang army also rose up everywhere.

Guo Chongtao had to send Ren Yuan, and Zhang Yun led his troops to divide the troops into the suppression and eliminate these anti-Tang armed forces. But relying solely on force is naturally not the fundamental solution. The key is to reduce the atrocities of the Tang army and ease the conflicts with the Shu people. So, Guo Chongtao ordered Wang Zongbi to take out the money and reward the army! Wang Zongbi complained: Although I made some money a few days ago, I have used a lot of filial piety to Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao. Now the position of Jiedu is gone, and I have asked me to use money to feed these tens of thousands of troops! This is equivalent to chasing my home, or even chasing my home may not be enough!

Wang Zongbi, who felt sorry for money, thought hard: Where did he offend Guo Chongtao? Suddenly he had an idea: Maybe Guo Chongtao wanted to be the governor of Xichuan, so he was embarrassed to say it. No wonder he gave so much money, which was useless at all, and even attracted resentment. I am so stupid!

Wang Zongbi immediately contacted a group of surrendered officials from the former Shu, and he took the lead. He met Li Jiji together and expressed sincerely: Guo Chongtaoen and Shu, the people in Shu are grateful for their great virtues, and hope that the court can leave Lord Guo to guard Chengdu and benefit the people!

Li Jiji felt suddenly, what was going on? The eunuchs Li Congxi and others around him pointed out: "Guo Chongtao and his son have always been domineering and domineering, and do not take the king seriously. Now they secretly instructed the people of Shu to come forward and recommend themselves as the commander of Xichuan Festival. His ambition is obvious, and the king must be prepared early!"

So, under the planning of Li Congxi and others, Li Jiji summoned Guo Chongtao and said to him with a kind look: "The emperor's reliance on you is like a towering mountain. How can you let you leave the court? Moreover, abandoning the elders of the country in remote and wild places is unreasonable! Therefore, it is not possible for me to decide to let you stay in Chengdu. How about letting these Shu ministers go directly to Luoyang and petition the emperor in front of you?"

Guo Chongtao, who had not prepared in advance, suddenly realized when he heard Li Jiji's seemingly intimate conversation: Oh no! Wang Zongbi caused a lot of trouble for himself!

Guo Chongtao did not want to risk the great danger of destroying the family and tried to be the second Zhonghui. Since he could not rebel, the most urgent task was to clear his suspicion in front of Li Jiji as soon as possible. The first method he adopted by Guo Chongtao was actually doing before, which was to imitate the former Qin general Wang Jian, accepted a large amount of bribes, and destroyed his reputation to show that he had no ambitions.

After the petition incident of Wang Zongbi and other former surrendered ministers in Shu, he asked his son Guo Tinghui to organize a convoy to send the huge bribes he received to Luoyang's residential land, and deliberately showed it to others: If I want to stay in Shu, how could I send all the money I received to Luoyang?

The second method Guo Chongtao adopted was more direct, which was to cut off Wang Zongbi's self-righteous and causing trouble for himself to prove his innocence. On December 10, Guo Chongtao asked Li Jiji to arrest the hero Wang Zongbi, his son Wang Chengban, Wang Zongxun, Wang Zongwo, and others, and took them to the downtown area to behead him, and at the same time confiscated all their property.

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Aside from the execution ground, a list of articles was posted to declare the crimes of Wang Zongbi and others: "Wang Chengbi and others deposed their monarchs in a rebellious manner, tyrannically killed the ministers in the palace, and stole public and private property for themselves. They are really the culprit of the country! We must understand the punishment of the canon!"

Many officials and people in Chengdu have been poisoned by Wang Zongbi and hated him to the core. They only dared not speak out because he was like a hero in the occupying army, who seemed to be fighting with Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao in great enthusiasm. Suddenly, they heard that Wang Zongbi was arrested and was about to behead him. They all applauded and went out to watch him being tortured, and some even prepared with a knife. When Wang Zongbi's head left his neck, everyone rushed forward and cut off the flesh slices from Wang Chengbi's body, put them in his mouth to bite them to vent their anger. After a while, Wang Zongbi was cut clean, leaving only a skeleton!

Guo Chongtao tried hard to clear himself of his suspicion in the eyes of Li Cunxu, Li Jiji and his son, but the effect was not obvious. What's bad is that Guo Chongtao had already formed enemies with eunuchs such as Li Congxi and many others around Li Cunxu. These people thought: If they didn't take advantage of the heat and completely brought Guo Chongtao down, once he returned to the court to gain power, the consequences would be unimaginable!

On the fourth day after Wang Zongbi's death, another great figure in Qianshu also ushered in his doomsday. Wang Chengxiu, the former governor of the Tianxiong Jie, who was fooled by An Chongba and went through a long journey, finally brought the remnant defeated general who was serving the king to Chengdu. Seeing that the opportunity was not good, he quickly surrendered, but it was too late.

Li Jiji personally interrogated him, "You live in a big town and hold heavy troops, why don't you send troops to resist?" Wang Chengxiu replied in panic: "You are afraid of your divine martial arts!" Li Jiji said: "Since that's the case, why don't you surrender early?" Wang Chengxiu replied again, "The king's army has never entered my jurisdiction."

Li Jiji did not want to save his life, so he asked a question with a trap: "How many people have you brought into the Qiang area?" Wang Chengxiu replied: "Ten thousand people." Li Jiji asked again: "How many people are there back now?" Wang Chengxiu replied: "Two thousand people." Li Jijiu said: "Since that's the case, it's your turn to pay for those ten thousand people!"

Wang Zongbi was extremely angry, and Wang Chengxiu was not innocent. In just a few days, the Later Tang Dynasty killed two heavyweight surrendered ministers in a row, which made the Wang Yan clan and the numerous Former Shu officials uneasy: Will Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao fulfill their previous promises in the manifesto? It seems that it is no longer reassuring.

A month later, Li Cunxu sent an eunuch named Xiang Yansi as an envoy to Chengdu to convey his edict. In the edict to the surrenderers of the Former Shu, Li Cunxu announced that civil and military officials of the fourth rank and above of the Former Shu will be demoted to one level, waiting to be reassigned. In addition to those with special talents or higher families, officials of the fifth rank and below will be dismissed immediately and sent home. Those who are the first to surrender and have meritorious results will be rewarded. As for the specific operation, Guo Chongtao is fully responsible.

Li Cunxu issued an edict to Wang Yan, which swears: "Enter the court with confidence, and when you enjoy the treatment of dividing the earth and enfeoffment, I will never take advantage of others and put a stone in the wrong place. The sun, moon and stars in the sky can testify, but I don't have a word to deceive you!" Wang Yan, who was under house arrest for many days, held Li Cunxu's edict and cried with joy: "I can finally be Anle Gong."

The edict brought by Xiang Yansi was not only aimed at the surrendered people of the Former Shu, but also a more important order for Guo Chongtao: Since the Former Shu has already been

If the war is over, Guo Chongtao should lead the army to attack Shu to return to the court. In particular, the property seized in the Former Shu must be counted and reported and sent to Luoyang as soon as possible!

There is a reason for Li Cunxu's attention to money so much. After the drought in the first half of the three years of Tongguang and the flood in the second half of the year, the Central Plains' prefectures and counties severely reduced their output, and some places even lost their collection! In this way, it is difficult to collect the agricultural tax in the treasury in full. Even a first-class renter like Kong Qian could not change the predicament.

Not long after, severe famine occurred in many places. A large number of poor farmers left their hometowns to survive and avoid rent and taxes, and embarked on a difficult road to escape famine. In this case, tax exemptions should have been reduced and relief to the victims. However, a large amount of wealth in the past two years was all included in the private pockets of Li Cunxu and his people around him, and they did not become the reserves of the treasury. As the disaster occurred, the treasury expenditure continued to decrease and was quickly exhausted. Because Luoyang gathered too much population, the situation was particularly serious, and he could not even pay the military pay for the garrison, and he had no spare time to take care of the refugees.

Kong Qian had to run to the east gate wharf outside the city every day, waiting for the grain ships from each state to unload the goods and distribute them immediately every time they arrive, minus all intermediate links. But even so, a large number of military families still couldn't get rid of the blame. Many soldiers were forced to pawn wives and sell their children to overcome difficulties. The families of military families who could not sell because of their age went to the suburbs to pick wild vegetables, and many died of hunger and cold on the road.

The army that cannot eat enough and wears warm will of course be unstable. Li Cunxu saw it and was also worried. He called ministers several times to discuss ways to deal with the financial crisis.

Li Qi, Minister of Personnel, believes that the people should be protected first and then the army should be protected. He wrote a memorial: "In the prosperous three ancient times, they all lived within their means. They first determined how much income they had, and then how many soldiers they had. Therefore, even if they encountered floods and droughts, they would not be able to pay. In modern times, no matter how many years and scenery were poor, they would have been levied heavily on farmers to raise soldiers, and they would have been insufficient money at any time. I think there would never be a situation where farmers were rich and soldiers were poor, or when farmers were poor and soldiers were rich. Letting farmers live a good life is the fundamental solution to the problem of military salary. Now it is difficult to directly reduce agricultural taxes, at least they should be eliminated, so that the harsh policies that increase the burden on farmers should be eliminated, so that the people can take a breath and have a rest, so that everything will gradually get better."

What Li Qi said was just a high-sounding but inoperable nonsense. Li Cunxu thought of a relatively limited, but at least it could be effective immediately: let the Later Tang Dynasty court temporarily leave Luoyang and move to Bianliang, where the disaster is relatively lighter and the waterway shipping is more convenient. However, a censor immediately raised an objection: "Instead of moving everywhere, it is better to practice frugality, and Lele's belt is over. Now the Wu Kingdom of the Yang family is still separating the south, which is our potential enemy. We cannot expose our weaknesses of lack of money and insufficient military rations to them."

After hearing this, Li Cunxu felt it was reasonable, so he gave up the plan. Then let the soldiers and the people bear it. No matter how difficult it is, the emperor does not need to tie his belt himself. In fact, even when the finances are at its most difficult, Li Cunxu did not restrain his big moves that he had already developed. He often brought the queen and concubines and guards to form a huge and luxurious team to go out of the city to hunt. Wherever the royal hunting team passed, he forced food and goods from the people. In this way, the people's resentment towards the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty became even higher.
Chapter completed!