Chapter 223: Guo Wei 2

Soon, there was a rebellion in the Three Towns of the Later Han Dynasty, namely Hezhong, Fengxiang, and Yongxing, and the imperial court first sent Bai Wenke and others to quell the rebellion, but there was no effect. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info so Guo Wei was ordered to go out, he was approachable, made friends with soldiers and civil ministers, and took the lead when the two armies clashed, personally risked arrows and stones, and could share weal and woe with the soldiers, and the soldiers made meritorious contributions He immediately rewarded, and he personally went to comfort the wounded.

No matter who made the suggestion, he could accept it with an open mind, and even if someone offended him, he did not care about hatred, and finally made the soldiers work in harmony and improve their morale and combat effectiveness. Guo Wei humbly listened to the advice of the generals, learned from the strengths of others, formulated a strategy of attacking the river first, and then used the method of besieging and fighting a war of attrition to confront the enemy, a year later, when the food and grass in the city were exhausted and morale was lost, Li Shouzhen and his wife died of self-immolation, and the other two towns were also pacified.

Guo Wei made great contributions to the stability of the Later Han Dynasty, but he did not take advantage of this to be a high-ranking official, but took the opportunity to increase his prestige. When Emperor Yin wanted to reward him, he said that the thief was not his credit alone, and the generals in the court also had merit in stabilizing the court's supply of military supplies, so he asked Emperor Yin to reward Shi Hongzhao and others, and he said that the ministers also had merit, and Su Fengji and others were also added to the rank and knight, Guo Wei also said that the generals of the garrisons and the officials of the prefectures and counties also had merit, so that Emperor Yin rewarded them. Guo Wei is not greedy for merit, but he has greatly improved his prestige, and compared with ordinary people, his strategy is much greater.

After Guo Wei pacified the three towns, Emperor Yin handed over to him the important task of garrisoning and defending the Khitan in the northern Yedu, that is, Weizhou. Before he took office, there was a dispute between the court and China over whether he should leave Beijing with the privy envoy, and the contradictions between the two ministers intensified.

Before leaving, he said earnestly to Emperor Yin: "Su Fengji and Shi Hongzhao are both former ministers of the former emperor, and they are very loyal to the country. The ministers of the frontier must be loyal and serve and live up to the trust of His Majesty. ”

Emperor Yin was also a little reluctant for Guo Wei to leave Beijing, he said to Guo Wei: "I dreamed at night that you turned into a donkey and carried me to heaven, and when I came down, you turned into a dragon again and left me to go south." ”

Guo Wei laughed when he heard this, probably Emperor Yin was already worried about the threat posed by Guo Wei to his throne at this time, so he killed Shi Hongzhao and others when Guo Wei was away, and then sent someone to kill him.

After Guo Wei arrived, he actively prepared for the defense of the Khitan, but soon after he came out, a major incident occurred in the court, Emperor Yin did not listen to him, but on the contrary, he listened to the provocation of his uncle Li Ye, booby-trapped Shi Hongzhao and others, heard the news of Guo Wei's army, and even killed all his family members, and then ordered another uncle Li Hongyi to go to Yedu to kill Guo Wei and others.

Li Hongyi was different from Li Ye, he didn't want to harm Guo Wei, so he told him the news. Guo Wei listened to the strategy of his confidant Wei Renpu, and used his official seal to forge an edict, saying that he wanted Guo Wei to kill the generals in order to provoke them.

Emperor Yin did not listen to his mother's advice to make peace with Guo Wei, and led the troops to the battle, but was killed by the rebels, and Su Fengji also committed suicide. Guo Wei entered Kaifeng without much effort, and the smart Guo Wei did not immediately claim the title of emperor, but asked the Empress Dowager Li to preside over major events first to calm people's hearts. He also strictly forbade soldiers to plunder and harass the capital, restored law and order in the capital, and Guo Wei sent people to welcome Liu Chong's son to succeed to the throne, so as to stabilize the clan.

After everything was stable, Guo Wei implemented his plan to claim the emperor, and asked his generals to send false information, saying that the Khitan was going south to invade. Then he was ordered by the Queen Mother to lead the troops out of the city, to Lanzhou, thousands of soldiers mutinied, supporting Guo Wei as the emperor, the history books said that he was forced to call the emperor, in fact, it was all premeditated in advance, Guo Wei's general Zhao Kuangyin, the founder of the Northern Song Dynasty, is estimated to have learned Guo Wei's practice to launch the Chenqiao Mutiny, because these two are almost the same.

Guo Wei said that the name of the country built by the emperor was Zhou, because he said that he was a descendant of Uncle Yu of the Zhou Dynasty, and was historically called Later Zhou, so as to distinguish it from the Zhou Dynasty, and Guo Wei still used Kaifeng as the capital of the Later Zhou. Before becoming emperor, Guo Wei sent Wang Jun to kill Liu Chong's son who was halfway through, so Liu Chong formed a mortal feud with Hou Zhou, and united with the Khitan to attack Hou Zhou, but was defeated by Guo Wei's righteous son Chai Rong in the Battle of Gaoping.

After becoming emperor, Guo Wei immediately set about governing the country and carrying out reforms to strengthen the country. He has experienced a lot of hardships since he was a child, and he also has personal experience of the people's suffering, so he first lightened the burden of the people. In this regard, Guo Wei mainly did two things, one was to get rid of unreasonable cattle rents, and the other was to abolish the camp and field affairs.

In the early years when Zhu Wen conquered Huainan, Zhu Wen gave the captured tens of thousands of ploughing cattle to the people, and then collected cattle rent from the people. Guo Wei ordered the abolition of this tax, which was outdated and burdensome to the people. As for the field management, it was an agricultural production institution set up in the Central Plains after the end of the Tang Dynasty and under the direct management of the household department, and the peasants under it were very burdened. After Guo Wei abolished the field affairs, he gave them the fields, houses, cattle and other agricultural tools used by the people in perpetuity.

This measure, together with the abolition of cattle rents, greatly reduced the burden on the peasants and promoted the development of production. In the meantime, some people suggested that if some good farms were sold, they could get hundreds of thousands of dollars to enrich the treasury, but Guo Wei said: "Let the people benefit, just like the country benefits, what do I want this money for?"

Not long after he succeeded to the throne, he issued an edict, ordering officials in various places not to use any excuse to increase taxes on the people, and to abolish all miscellaneous taxes other than regular taxes, which had been prevalent. Guo Wei also issued an edict to alleviate the cruel laws of the Later Han Dynasty, which stipulated that those who stole a penny should also be put to death, and those who were not felons often associated with relatives, and the Later Zhou Dynasty stipulated that felonies that were not rebellion and killing relatives and other great rebellious crimes would no longer be related to relatives.

In the Later Han Dynasty, the raw materials for liquor and koji liquor were monopolized by the state, and anyone who bought and sold them privately was executed, and the punishment was greatly reduced in the Later Zhou Dynasty, and specific provisions were made, and the cane punishment of one or two to one catty was eighty, and those who were more than one catty to five catties were sentenced to three years in prison, and those who were more than five catties were sentenced to death. In the Later Han Dynasty, it was forbidden for the people to collect and buy cowhides, and those who bought and sold an inch without permission would be executed, and the Later Zhou Dynasty stipulated that only forty hectares of land would be charged a cowhide tax in kind, and the rest of the people could buy and sell at will. Guo Wei understands that there are many places where cowhide is used by the people, so for the sake of the people's lives, there will be this regulation.

In addition to reforming and benefiting the people, Guo Wei also paid great attention to frugality and reduced the burden of the people as much as possible. He lived an unusually frugal life, was very frugal in food, clothing, housing and transportation, and issued an edict prohibiting the entry of delicacies and local local products from all over the country, not to mention treasures.

He said to the ministers: "I came from a humble background, tasted all the hardships of the world, and experienced the disasters of the country and the family, and now that I am the emperor, how can I pamper and drag down the people of the world?"

Not only did he not allow Jin Feng to enter the palace, but he also had dozens of jewels and jade, luxurious beds and stools decorated with gold and silver, and eating utensils made of gold and silver smashed in public on the palace. Guo Wei often said to his courtiers: "Those emperors, how can they use such things?"

In terms of governing the country, although Guo Wei has some ability, he still humbly reinforces the talented and virtuous civil ministers, and takes action to change the ugly image of the military in charge of the government since the Later Liang, he said to these talented and virtuous ministers: "I grew up in the military, I don't know how to learn, and I am not proficient in the great plan of governing the country and the country. ”

Guo Wei's careful governance made the Later Zhou show signs of national prosperity and strong people in a very short period of time, laying a solid foundation for Zhou Shizong to continue his career.

Guo Wei did not forget to be frugal before he died, and he solemnly left his last words: "You must bury me thinly, don't forcibly recruit migrant workers, and don't want the palace people to guard the mausoleum for me for many years. Don't want stone men and stone beasts, just set up a tablet and engrave these words: When the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was driving, he had an appointment with the emperor who wanted to succeed him, but because he liked frugality in his life, he was only allowed to be buried in a tile coffin and paper clothes. If it is contrary to this, the spirit will not help it. ”

Guo Wei did not do this unusually, but was moved by the thrift of Emperor Wen of Han, and he saw that the tombs of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty were not only expensive because they were built luxuriously, but also were destroyed by tomb robbers, while the tombs of Emperor Wen of Han are still intact.

Guo Wei is also very open, saying that when the annual cold food festival is not busy, it is appropriate to send people to his mausoleum to pay respects, if no one goes, just remote sacrifice, and finally said: "Tens of thousands, don't forget my words." ”

Guo Wei sat on the throne for a total of three years, proclaimed himself emperor from the first month, and died of illness in the first month of the year, at the age of 51.