Chapter 431 Li Yu ascended the throne

The recent chapters talk about the changes in the Southern Tang Dynasty. This chapter is the last chapter about the recent situation of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, the Southern Tang, who was beaten to the point of being beaten by the Later Zhou Dynasty, would have suddenly undergone major changes, which is incredible.

On December 23, Li Jing finally made up his mind and ordered Yin Chongyi of the Privy Council to draft an edict to announce the crimes of Song Qiqiu, Chen Jue, Li Zhenggu and others. Although Song Qiqiu still retained all the official positions and titles, Song Qiqiu ordered Song Qiqiu to return to his old house in Jiuhua Mountain to live in seclusion; he was not polite to Chen Jue and others, Chen Jue was demoted to the doctor of the Imperial College and exiled to Xuanzhou; he deprived of all his appointments and ordered him to commit suicide and apologize. In order to avoid the major earthquake in the officialdom of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Jing announced that the rest of Song Qiqiu's followers would not be investigated.

Li Jing also sent someone to explain to Guo Rong that because he retained all the official positions of Song Qiqiu, the officialdom of the Southern Tang was only partially adjusted on the surface. In addition, Guo Rong's current attention was not in the south at all. Wang Jun, who is now in charge of the northern part of Youzhou, was seriously ill and bedridden. Youyan was under heavy military pressure from the Liao Kingdom in various parts of the Later Zhou Dynasty. The regime here has become precarious, and some areas have even changed their banners! Guo Rong is now preparing for the Northern Expedition, so how can he care about the unthreatening Southern Tang?!

Seeing that the Later Zhou Dynasty had no intention of opposing the disposal of Song Qiqiu and others, Li Jing immediately relaxed, but Song Qiqiu was a veteran of several dynasties and had deep roots. Even if Song Qiqiu lived in seclusion and several major minds were demoted one after another, the political forces he left behind were mixed and it was difficult to eliminate them all at once.

In order to effectively control the military and political power of the Southern Tang Dynasty and to clear the obstacles to power in the future, Li Jing had the intention of killing Song Qiqiu. He immediately sent a messenger to rush to Jiuhua Mountain. After the messenger arrived at Jiuhua Mountain, he immediately ordered the local government to build a high wall to surround the Song Mansion and prevent the Song family from going out. He only left a small hole at the door of the mansion to convey food.

Song Qiqiu sighed: "When the late emperor founded the Tang Dynasty in the past, I once offered a poisonous plan to imprison the Southern Wu royal family (Yang Pu's clan) in Taizhou, allowing them to make peace with their brothers and sisters, and reverse morality. Now the retribution has come!"

Song Qiqiu's sigh came true soon. At first, the Song Mansion could still buy food with years of savings. It cannot be said that it could continue to be rich and frugal, but it could barely maintain food and clothing. However, the price of food was getting higher and higher. Moreover, after Li Jing received the money accumulated by generations of the Song Mansion, he immediately claimed that Song Qiqiu was greedy and embezzled a large amount of public funds, which completely ruined his reputation.

With Li Jing's secret edict, the envoy's attitude became more and more tough. All the gold, silver and treasures left in the Song Mansion's treasury were replaced with high-priced grains. But the so-called high-priced grains were just wine lees for feeding pigs. Everyone was really not full, so they filled them with cold water, tossed and turned and fell asleep. After urinating, they all woke up hungry. However, the envoy said in the mansion report sent that day: The relatives who came and went to Song Mansion were all drunk and slept all day long.

On this day, when all the gold and silver jewelry in the Song Mansion were replaced with wine lees and there were no more valuable items, everyone in the high wall began to go hungry, and they hungry for three days!

Especially the relatives of Song Qiqiu, when Song Qiqiu was in power, they were as obedient as dogs to him. After Song Qiqiu lost power, they were greedy for the money of the Song Mansion and refused to leave, and they were also imprisoned in this high wall. They were so hungry that they were not caring about the superiors and inferiors of the people and kept cursing. However, even Song Qiqiu's close relatives were cursing him, and the performance of their relatives was not outstanding.

These brave Song family relatives who have always been strong and fat on weekdays have become skinny and skinny. They support each other and quietly come to the small window, shouting in a sarcastic voice: "Sir, sir, give me a way out!"

They shouted and shouted, their throats were hoarse, and they vomited blood, and they didn't dare to stop because they knew that all hopes of survival were outside the window.

After waiting for a long time, when the night shrouded the earth, someone replied quietly: "Song Qiqiu is not dead, don't think about eating! If Song Qiqiu is not injured and dies, we will provide free food here to keep our fill!"

The last promise of "living the fullness" completely defeated the defense line of the Song family. They looked at each other, and their eyes were a little green. Everyone had the same idea. If you continue to starve to death, you might as well try hard. Although Song Qiqiu had grace to everyone, he would rather consider it for himself first!

Everyone supported each other and went to Song Qiqiu's bedroom. When they arrived at the bedroom, they were shocked by Song Qiqiu's power. Everyone still kowtowed to see each other and did not dare to enter without authorization. After entering the room, the leader bowed to Song Qiqiu and fell to the ground: "Master, save us all!"

Song Qiqiu was old and weak, and had long been swollen all over and could not get up. He collapsed on the Hu chair and said with a wry smile: "Li Jingbai clearly wants to not be accused of being a bad reputation. What can I do if I kill everyone in our Song Mansion?!"

The man stood up and said with a grim smile: "Since you have nothing to do, let's listen to our brothers! We are all distant relatives of the Song family. You have gained a lot of benefits from following the master in the past. Now, please help us for the last time. Brothers, come on!"

Hearing his orders, several people rushed forward, pressed their hands, and pressed their feet, and pressed Song Qiqiu on the Hu chair. Before Song Qiqiu could call for help, several people pressed the handkerchief soaked in water on Song Qiqiu's face!

Song Qiqiu struggled desperately, but he was old and weak, and hungry, so he was no match for these people at all. In less than a quarter of an hour, Song Qiqiu, who had once had power, suffocated and died!

The news soon came to Jinling, and Li Jing immediately recognized Song Qiqiu with a posthumous title - Chou Miao! Such a distinct political banner immediately triggered a wave of the officialdom of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Many Song Qiqiu's old followers immediately wrote a letter to draw a clear line with Song Qiqiu and expose his sinister appearance. Some people even counterattacked and threw dirty water on Song Qiqiu's face, saying that he had conspired to rebel, but was shocked by the wise master and did not dare to launch it.

However, these behaviors were too late! Soon, the officials promoted by Song Qiqiu, whether they were corrupt or honest, were dismissed by Li Jing and imprisoned for custody, and the entire Southern Tang court was almost paralyzed!

At first, Li Jing was very comfortable, but then he felt a little panic. The later he went, the more he felt that he wanted to calm the political unrest and restore peace. Otherwise, Zhou did not destroy the Southern Tang, but the Southern Tang would collapse in the civil strife. However, the anti-Song movement must not end in a hurry, and it must have a bright end, such as giving a positive evaluation to a certain anti-Song righteous man.

On this day, Li Jing came to Chang Mengxi's mansion to deeply commemorate this warrior who firmly fought against Song Qiqiu, and to commemorate this loyal minister who once served as the magistrate of Xuan Zhengyuan and the Hanlin Bachelor!

Li Jing lit an incense stick in front of Chang Mengxi's mourning hall and said to his tablet: "You have wanted to kill Song Qiqiu all your life, but now your regrets can finally be compensated!" After entering the incense, Li Jing also posthumously given Chang Mengxi's high position as Zuo Pushe to comfort his spirit in the sky, to inspire later generations to be loyal to the emperor and patriotism, and to put a relatively perfect end to the anti-Song movement!

After returning to the palace, Zhong Mo hurried into the palace for a visit and said to Li Jing: "Master, the big thing is not good, the prices of Jinling Mansion soar, and the treasury has no silver deposit!"

It turned out that the war with the Later Zhou Dynasty consumed the money and grain accumulated by the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the war compensation completely broke the finances of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Faced with such a crisis, Li Jing did not come up with any effective response. Instead, he blindly cleared Song Qiqiu's party members, causing shock in the officialdom. Song Qiqiu was in power for many days, and many of the officials he promoted were good officials with real talents and knowledge. They were imprisoned without discrimination, which was equivalent to destroying the already fragile economic regulation system of the Southern Tang Dynasty. In this way, no one dared to cause trouble, let alone petition for the people. The rising trend of price in Jinling Prefecture is inevitable!

Li Jing and Zhong Mo discussed for many days, and finally came up with a loss trick, which was to cast a large amount of money for ten, called "Yongtongquan Goods". This method greatly damaged the interests of the people and caused a huge reputation. Of course, the people did not dare to directly oppose Li Jing, and all poured their anger on Zhong Mo. Zhong Mo's official voice was ugly for a moment!

Soon, Li Jing wanted to grant Li Congjia the title of prince to divert the attention of the officialdom and the people and calm the hearts of the people. Zhong Mo stopped him and retorted loudly: "Congjiade was light and cowardly, and he believed in the Buddhist family (Buddhism), and was not a talented person. He was brave and solemn, so he should be a heir."

Judging from the history of later generations, Li Congjia (Li Yu) did as Zhong Mo said, and there was no talent that a person should have. However, from the viewpoint at that time, Zhong Mo had committed a big taboo when he interfered with the establishment of the crown prince without authorization. Soon, Li Jing found an excuse to demote Zhong Mo to the Imperial Supervisor and exiled him to Raozhou. Later, Li Jing promoted the King of Wu Li Congjia (Li Yu) to the Shangshu Ling, who was aware of political affairs, and ordered him to live in the Eastern Palace!

As Li Congjia established the position of prince and with the end of the anti-Song movement, the officialdom of the Southern Tang Dynasty finally calmed down. However, Li Jing was a life of trouble. Considering that Jinling Prefecture was too close to the Later Zhou army, Li Jing wanted to move the capital to avoid the edge.

Li Jing planned to move the capital, but no one of the ministers agreed with him. Only the Privy Councilor Tang Hao considered it in a military sense. Li Jing was used to being arbitrary during this period, so he forced the order to build a capital in Hongzhou and promote Hongzhou to Nanchang.

Li Jing left the prince Li Congjia to supervise the country and led his ministers to move the capital to Nanchang. However, although his original intention was good, the current Southern Tang Dynasty should focus on stability and rest as the main focus. The construction of the Nandu consumed the last money and grain in the treasury and was unable to complete the many projects. Whether it was the office space of the government or the main hall in the palace, they were all embarrassed and could not accommodate so many people.

The ministers were thinking about returning home all day long, and Li Jing regretted it and was furious. He was lingering on his sickbed and was unable to go to court. Tang Hao knew that he had become the target of public criticism and died of swallowing medicine. Shortly after Tang Hao's death, Li Jing died of illness at the age of 47. Li Congjia then inherited the position of lord and changed his name to Li Yu.


Chapter completed!