Li Qiufeng listened to Xu Chengzong's story of the past, and he was a little suspicious. Just before Xu Chengzong said his real surname, Li Qiufeng immediately thought of the Xu family, the feud of the five families of Nie, Lu, Zhao, Du, and Hua in Fengmen Village. It would not be surprising if this person was a descendant of the Xu family, who infiltrated Xiuwu County as a county magistrate and secretly dealt with the Nie, Lu, Zhao, and Du families. What puzzled Li Qiufeng was that Xu Chengzong did not talk about the grudges between the Xu family and the Nie family, but talked about Meng Zhixiang, who couldn't be beaten with eight poles, but Li Qiufeng was greatly puzzled.

I only heard Xu Chengzong continue: "When Meng Zhixiang was in the capital, he skillfully negotiated with Li Cunmiao, and won Li Cunmiao's favor. Li Cunmiao is martial by nature, and he only likes to dance with guns and sticks every day. After ascending the throne and becoming the emperor, he spent all day messing with the eunuchs in the harem, so he was not addicted to women. He had a concubine surnamed Li, who was a maid in the family when he was not on the throne, and was later accepted as a side room. After Li Cunqiao became the emperor, the Li family was also promoted to concubine. However, Li Cunmiao does not love this Concubine Li, and he always doesn't care about her on weekdays.

One day, Li Cunqiao summoned Meng Zhixiang in the palace to discuss national affairs. After the two finished speaking, Li Cunqiao gave a banquet to entertain Meng Zhixiang. When the wine was hot, Li Cunqiao asked if the children born to Meng Zhixiang and the eldest princess Qionghua were good? Meng Zhixiang knelt down and replied, saying that most of the sons and daughters born to the eldest princess of Qionghua had died young, and the surviving sons were frail and sick, and he was troubled by this.

After Li Cunqiao listened, he said to Meng Zhixiang that a manly man must leave blood and bones for his ancestors. The eldest princess of Qionghua is old and decrepit, but she is afraid that she will not have children again. He wanted to reward Meng Zhixiang with a beauty and talk about Meng Zhixiang's hard work of loyalty to the country. ”

When Xu Chengzong said this, he paused slightly, and then continued: "What kind of person is Meng Zhixiang, hearing this, not only was he not happy, but he was greatly shocked. Since ancient times, most emperors will have some rewards for their courtiers, but the rewards of gold and silver are not enough, if they reward beautiful women and servants, most of them have no good intentions. Either they were worried that the courtiers would make trouble, so they sent people to monitor them in the name of rewards, or they wanted to use beautiful women to kill the ambitions of the courtiers, and then find an excuse to get rid of the courtiers. Meng Zhixiang knew that since Li Cunqiao ascended the throne, he was no longer the brave and invincible Thirteen Taibao who was determined to be a Ming monarch. He raised a group of servants in the harem, drank and sang with these servants every day, and ignored the government. The eunuchs took the opportunity to gain power and compete with the ministers of the court for authority. Although Meng Zhixiang is very trusted by Li Cunmiao, in recent years, Li Cunmiao has lived in the deep palace, and the two rarely meet. Those eunuchs were afraid that Meng Zhixiang held great power, regarded Meng Zhixiang as an enemy, and would definitely slander in front of Li Cunqing. Today, Li Cunmiao suddenly wants to reward the beauty, but I am afraid that he is not with any good intentions.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhixiang kowtowed again and again, saying that he was a humble minister, how could he dare to worry about these trivial matters for the emperor? Not to mention that he had a deep relationship with the eldest princess Qionghua, and he was already old, so he didn't want to delay the woman's youth. The emperor's kindness was naturally grateful, but the courtiers couldn't afford it, and asked the emperor to take back his life.

After Li Cunqiao heard this, he laughed and said to Meng Zhixiang that he had guessed that Meng Zhixiang was afraid that the eldest princess of Qionghua would be angry, so he didn't dare to take another concubine. He can make a holy decree, Meng Zhixiang is ordered to take a concubine, and the eldest princess of Qionghua will naturally not say anything. After Li Cunqiao finished speaking, seeing that Meng Zhixiang still did not dare to obey the order, he straightened his face and said to Meng Zhixiang, Do you want to resist the order? Meng Zhixiang was frightened, knowing that if he persisted, he would immediately be killed. He had to kowtow and thank him and agree to the matter.

After the banquet, Li Cunqiao asked people to carry a small sedan chair and sent the beauty to Meng Zhixiang's mansion. Meng Zhixiang returned to the mansion and told the eldest princess Qionghua about it first. Although the eldest princess was not very happy in her heart, she was just a beauty rewarded by the emperor, and she had nothing to say. It's just that after the maid helped the beauty out of the sedan chair, Meng Zhixiang returned it, but the eldest princess Qionghua was taken aback.

"The eldest princess of Qionghua is a female dependent, and sometimes she goes to the palace to greet the queen mother and the queen mother, and she is no stranger to the harem concubines of Emperor Li Cunqing. But Meng Zhixiang is a foreign minister, except for the queen, he has never seen the rest of the emperor's concubines. When the two of them saw the beauty, the eldest princess of Qionghua recognized her as Li Cunqiao's concubine Li, but Meng Zhixiang was ignorant, and only said that this woman was a maid in the palace.

The eldest princess of Qionghua didn't dare to make a noise, and ordered the maid to help the Li family into the back hall to rest, and then told Meng Zhixiang about it. After Meng Zhixiang heard this, he was stunned, and he didn't know what Li Cunmiao's intention was. Although the eldest princess of Qionghua didn't like Meng Zhixiang to take a concubine, she also knew that if she angered Li Cunqing, a catastrophe would come. At that time, the door will be full of beheading, and even if he does not die, he can only be a widow who lives in seclusion. The lesser of the two harms, no matter what Li Cunmiao's plans are, he can only deal with it carefully at this time.

After the husband and wife discussed, they made up their minds that this matter must not be leaked out, so they could only quietly accept the Li family as Meng Zhixiang's concubine. However, in the Meng Mansion, the status of the Li family is not below the eldest princess of Qionghua at all, and even Meng Zhixiang has great respect for the Li family, and everything is done by the Li family, and he never dares to restrain it. ”

When Xu Chengzong said this, he glanced at Li Qiufeng, and then said: "Regarding the matter of the Li family, it is only a passing mention in the official history, and for thousands of years, the world has not been able to guess what Li Cunmiao's intention is to reward his concubine to Meng Zhixiang. Song people Sima Guang, Ouyang Xiu and others have talked about this matter in articles and letters, but they can't guess what Li Cunmiao's intentions are. However, according to folklore, this Li was a very knowledgeable and virtuous man. She saw that Li Cunmiao was messing with the servants and eunuchs in the harem all day long, ignoring the government and politics, and she was worried in her heart, so she repeatedly admonished her. After the matter was known to those servants and eunuchs, they slandered in front of Li Cunqiao and said all the bad things about the Li family. Li Cunmiao was also extremely impatient with the Li family's advice, and he had already had the intention of demolishing the Li family out of the palace. On that day, he drank with Meng Zhixiang, and when he saw Meng Zhixiang looking cowering, he suddenly realized that he had given the Li family to Meng Zhixiang. That's because he heard that the eldest princess of Qionghua was a vinegar jar, and Meng Zhixiang was not allowed to take a concubine. Meng Zhixiang once raised the outer room, but he didn't do things secretly, and when the eldest princess of Qionghua learned the news, she actually took twenty or thirty rough servants to the door and beat the outer room to death. If the Li family is rewarded to Meng Zhixiang, first, he can buy Meng Zhixiang's heart, which makes him even more desperate for himself. The second is to send Li out of the palace, so that she will not make noise in her ears. And rewarding her to the courtiers is also a humiliation to the Li family, just enough to get out of his chest with a bad breath. The third is to send the Li family to the Meng Mansion, and the eldest princess of Qionghua is bound to be unhappy. The chickens and dogs jumping up and down the Meng Mansion are also very interesting.

"But it's just folklore, and I can't do it. But after the Li family arrived in the Meng Mansion, he was not arrogant, and he had no dirt with the eldest princess Qionghua. In November of that year, the Li family gave birth to a son for Meng Zhixiang, named Meng Chang, who was later the late emperor of Later Shu. However, the matter of the Li family giving birth to a child has many legends in the later Tang Dynasty. Some people say that Li was pregnant when he was in the palace, and Li Cunqiao deliberately rewarded Li to Meng Zhixiang, with the intention of making him a cheap father, and wanted to get all the wealth of Meng Zhixiang's family into his own hands. Some people also say that Li Cunmiao was bewitched by the Lingren and deliberately humiliated Meng Zhixiang to force him to rebel, so that he would have an excuse to slaughter Meng Zhixiang. In short, there are many doubts about this matter, and there is no convincing statement for the world.

Later, Meng Zhixiang was appointed as Chengdu Yin by Li Cunmiao and went to Shu to be an official. The Li family took Meng Chang and entered Shu with the eldest princess of Qionghua. Meng Zhixiang left the capital, lost a lot of fetters, and accumulated military and horse materials in Shu, with other plans. Later, he became the envoy of the Jiannan Xichuan Festival, and his influence became bigger and bigger. Although Meng Chang was not very old, he was also appointed by Meng Zhixiang as the marching Sima and held great power in the army.

"Meng Chang is an extremely intelligent person, and he has been familiar with poetry and books since he was a child, and he is very literate. After staying in Shu, Meng Chang had many contacts with the literati and celebrities in Shu, and his reputation became bigger and bigger. In addition, Meng Zhixiang's two eldest sons died of illness one after another, and Meng Chang became Meng Zhixiang's most relied on son. ”