Li Zhou reported the matter to Shi Jingtang, and Shi Jingtang issued an edict to exil Zhang Shi to Shangzhou, hoping to calm Zhang Yanze down and let the matter go. However, Zhang Yanze refused to give up and sent an envoy to Bianliang and directly scared the emperor with a threatening tone, saying, "If Zhang Shi was not handed over to Zhang Yanze, no one could tell what terrible things would happen in the west!"

Shi Jingtang once again showed his plasticine attributes that were hard and soft when they encountered it. He issued an edict to deport Zhang Shi to Jingzhou and handed him over to Zhang Yanze. On the day Zhang Shi was sent back to Jingzhou, Zhang Yanze indulged his beastly nature, cut off his distant relative's limbs, then inserted it through his mouth with a knife, cut his chest down and digging out his heart!

Then, Zhang Yanze forcibly occupied Zhang Shi's wife and took her as a concubine. Therefore, some people believe that the main reason why Zhang Yanze must kill Zhang Shi was not that he committed the "major crime" to stop Zhang Yanze from slaughtering each other, but that he shouldn't have married a beautiful wife.

But Zhang Shi was not a fool, but a middle-level official in the court. His innocent death became a sensational case. Zhang Shi's father Zhang Duo rushed to the capital to sue and shout for justice for his son! Li Tao, the historian who had previously advised Shi Jingtang to protect Zhang Quanyi's descendants, was transferred to the Ministry of Justice at this time. After learning the details of the case, he was filled with indignation and determined to seek justice for the deceased.

Under the pressure of public opinion in the court and the opposition, Shi Jingtang transferred Wang Zhou, the former governor of Yongqing, to Jingzhou, to take over Zhang Yi, and asked Zhang Yanze to enter Beijing for investigation. Facts proved that Zhang Yanze was not able to fulfill his arrogance when he threatened the court before. After the imperial edict, he obediently entered Beijing for trial. If the Later Jin court really wanted to take action, most of the vassal states could still be managed.

Wang Zhou was one of the few good officials among the Jiedushi in the Later Jin towns who were diligent and loving the people. The people of Jingzhou saw the sky again. They were grateful and accused him of the evil deeds of the former Jiedushi. Wang Zhou was very surprised. After sorting it out, he reported to the court that Zhang Yanze committed twenty-six serious crimes in Zhangyi Town and the consequences of at least 5,000 households fleeing to a foreign land!

So, how should such a guy who has committed many evil deeds and has already aroused the grievances of heaven and earth? Shi Jingtang gave instructions to the relevant departments: Zhang Yanze is a meritorious minister, and he is a relative of Dongping King Yang Guangyuan. He should try his best to deal with his faults!

Zheng Shouyi, the right counselor, couldn't bear it and wrote a memorial to remind Shi Jingtang: "Your Majesty gave Zhang Shi to Zhang Yanze, which was equivalent to encouraging him in disguise to be lawless and acted violently! Zhang Yanze's actions, no matter who saw or who heard, were all too angry! Your Majesty refused to say even a word of blame, which made the right and wrong no matter how he was, and there was no order to reward and punishment. Do you know that there is a legend outside that Your Majesty accepted bribes from Zhang Yanze's hundred horses and exonerated him everywhere? I can't bear to see Your Majesty being stigmatized. Now, only by severely punishing Zhang Yanze according to the law can the people in the world worship His Majesty's holy virtue again!"

Li Tao and other officials from the Ministry of Justice gathered at the palace gate to discuss the punishment of Zhang Yanze. Everyone was angry and believed that they should never let go of it lightly, otherwise who would take the national law seriously in the future? After the discussion, everyone reported the result to Shi Jingtang.

The next day, the Later Jin Emperor Shi Jingtang disagreed with the public and made the following ruling: First, Zhang Yanze's official rank and title were demoted to one level and appointed separately. Secondly, Zhang Shi's father and children were all given official positions as a polite.

Third, let the people of Zhangyi who fled under Zhang Yanze's tenure return to their hometown to resume their business, and reduce their taxes and labor service as much as possible. Once this treatment result was announced, the ministers were upset and after the thunder, it was just a little drizzle?

So Li Tao led the way and gathered officials from the Secretariat, the subordinates, the Censorate and other departments to go to the palace gate to defend. Everyone pointed out that the punishment for Zhang Yanze was too slight and should be executed according to the law! Shi Jingtang had to summon Li Tao, hoping to use the emperor's authority to suppress this person who could not get along with him. However, Li Tao relied on justice and refused to surrender, and debated with the emperor one by one! The Emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty was unreasonable, not to mention that he was not an opponent in terms of familiarity with the law. After a while, he was speechless and had to shout loudly in anger, causing Li Tao to retreat!

But Li Tao did not retreat and continued to force the emperor! Shi Jingtang had to change his tone and forcefully gave the final decision: "No matter what you say, I have promised not to let Zhang Yanze die, how can I regret it?" Li Tao did not give the emperor face, and directly exposed Shi Jingtang's weakness: "Since your Majesty has promised Zhang Yanze not to die, he should not regret it. But I don't know where was his iron coupon for exemption from death when Fan Yanguang was killed?"

The pain of being stepped on by Li Tao, Shi Jingtang was both ashamed and angry, and had nothing to say. Well, if you don’t leave, I’ll leave! Shi Jingtang shook his sleeves and stood up to return to the harem. This time the court struggle was in vain. At that moment, Li Tao’s strength was not inferior to Dong Xuan, but his opponent was not Guangwu. However, Shi Jingtang did not punish Li Tao for his merciless confrontation. A few days later, Zhang Yanze was appointed as the General of Zuo Longwu by Shi Jingtang, and served as a senior general in the imperial guards in the capital.

When people at that time saw Shi Jingtang's behavior, many people were very dissatisfied with him. The most typical example was Shi Jingtang's former iron-core An Chongrong. As time went by, his impression of the Emperor of Later Jin eventually developed from worship to contempt, until he had the idea of ​​"he could replace him"! An Chongrong publicly said to the people around him: "The emperor has no real dragon species! As long as he is strong, anyone can do it!"

An Chongrong then raised a flagpole dozens of feet tall outside the gate of his governor's yamen, then lit a bow and slapped an arrow, and said to the officials on the left and right: "If I can shoot the dragon head on the flag with one arrow, I will definitely be the true emperor!" An Chongrong's archery skills are good, so just like the last time he proved that Shi Jingtang wanted to be the emperor, this time the bow and arrow proved that An Chongrong also had the emperor's fate!

However, even according to An Chongrong's own statement, the emperor's thing is "a strong soldier should do it", and it is not something that can be done by those who shoot the arrow accurately. Therefore, to realize the beautiful dream of becoming an emperor, it is useless to shoot the dragon head alone. The key is to strengthen your own strength. So what should we do to strengthen our military strength?

Before, Shi Jingtang was not strong enough when he rebelled. He was the godson of the Khitans, so he brought strong foreign aid and supplemented his strength. However, this method was not available to everyone. Zhao Dejun wanted to form an alliance with the Khitan to fight against the Tang Dynasty, but was caught and listened to the lesson. Fan Yanguang wanted to form an alliance with the Khitan to fight against the Jin Dynasty, but he was killed. Yang Guangyuan wanted the Khitan to support him and replace Shi Jingtang, but as a result, Shi Shen was in the sea and had no response. He could only be stripped of his military power and went to Qingzhou to count the money behind closed doors.

Seeing these situations, An Chongrong felt that the Khitans were unreliable. In addition, he had some backbone and begged the Later Jin to the Liao Kingdom.

All felt ashamed. Therefore, he adopted a completely opposite method to the above people to expand his momentum and strength. So An Chongrong openly opposed the national policy of the court, held high the banner of opposing traitorism, promoted his claim to save the country to the world, and firmly occupied the moral commanding heights of public opinion: opposes tribute to the Liao Kingdom! Abolished the traitorism treaty! He accommodated a large number of refugees fleeing from the Liao Kingdom, organized them into troops, and prepared to regain lost territory! In this way, An Chongrong expanded his troops regardless of the pretext of preparing to regain the sixteen states.

In the summer of the sixth year of Tianfu, the envoy of the Liao Kingdom, Zhala, passed by Zhenzhou. An Chongrong invaded and humiliated him. Zhala spoke rudely. An Chongrong was furious and arrested Zhala. He also wrote a letter to the court ministers, the chiefs of the vassal states in all directions, saying that the Liao Kingdom could be captured. At the same time, he sent cavalry to plunder the southern border of Youzhou and stationed the army in Boye.

At the same time, An Chongrong submitted a letter to Shi Jingtang and praised: "Tuyuhun, Turkic, Hun, Qi,

Shatuo each led his troops to surrender; Dangxiang and others also sent envoys to hand over the commission of the Liao Kingdom's office, saying that they were bullied and abused by the Liao Kingdom. They also said that since February, the Liao Kingdom ordered them to prepare their own elite troops and strong horses to plunder the south when the autumn began. They were afraid that God would not bless him, and they were willing to prepare 100,000 troops and jointly attack the Liao Kingdom with Jin Kingdom. In addition, Zhao Chong, deputy governor of Shuozhou, had expelled the Liao Kingdom.

Liu Shan, the governor of the order, requested to surrender to the court. I have reported these situations to the court one after another. Your Majesty ordered me to admire the Liao Kingdom many times and not to provoke the provocation by myself. But now the hearts of the heavens are hard to disobey, and the opportunity cannot be missed, and the time will never come again. All the governors who are trapped in the territory of the barbarians stretch their necks and raise their heels to wait for the king's army to fight the northern expedition. I hope the court will make a decision early." There are thousands of words in the table and are all reprimanded.

The Later Jin treated the Liao Kingdom as his father and did all the greedy Husbands in the Central Plains to flatter and flatter.

Shi Jingtang was extremely afraid of offending the father of Liao, Yelu Deguang, so he issued an edict to An Chongrong, saying: "The previous dynasty's approach to marriage with the enemy was for the sake of the country. Now I have the same idea when I submit to the Liao Kingdom by using heaven to the heavens to the Liao Kingdom. You can only bring shame to yourself." Seeing Shi Jingtang's reply, An Chongrong's willingness to rebel decided. An Chongrong used the Liao Kingdom as an excuse and secretly sent people to collude with the Youzhou Jiedushi Liu Xi. The Liao Emperor Yelu Deguang believed that the Jin Dynasty was in trouble for him, and was glad that An Chongrong made a rebellion, hoping that the Later Jin court and An Chongrong would be damaged at the same time. Therefore, Yelu Deguang did not take any measures against An Chongrong, but instead sent people to reprimand Shi Jingtang.

However, because An Chongrong had strong military forces and could not control him, Shi Jingtang was extremely worried. Seeing An Chongrong's increasingly unscrupulous and extraordinary actions during the Chengde term, Shi Jingtang felt a huge threat from two sides: on one side, the domestic government and public opinion that was unbearable to humiliation and opposes surrender to the Khitan. Because of An Chongrong's incitement, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. This trend of thought evolves into a chaos and is growing step by step.

On the other hand, the father of Liao was becoming increasingly louder and more anti-Liao in the Later Jin territory, and the accusations against his godson Shi Jingtang became more and more frequent and more severe! If the problems brought by An Chongrong could not be effectively solved, would the Khitans launch a new southern invasion on this ground? Or even re-choose their agents in the Central Plains? No matter which threat is expanded, it may become a catastrophe for the Later Jin Dynasty!
Chapter completed!