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Chapter 325: Multiple Circumcisions without Death

[The eunuch who possessed the military power of the whole country, the heroes of Lingyan Pavilion were bullied by him, and the emperor had to respect him. Historical trivia and historical figures]

He was a vicious eunuch who had served three dynasties. Relying on his precise control of the current situation, he was powerful in the court and no one dared to oppose him. He was also the supreme commander of the Shen Ce Army of the Tang Dynasty. With the military power in his hands, he played the emperors of two dynasties in his hands.

In this video, we will learn about Yu Chaoen, a representative figure among eunuchs.

Yu Chaoen was born in 722 in Luzhou, Luchuan, which is today's Lu County, Sichuan. There are not many records about his family background, but it is known that he entered the palace in the first year of Tianbao during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji.

In 755, the An Lushan and Shi Siming Rebellion broke out. Emperor Xuanzong listened to the slander of villains many times, and the war was not going well. In the end, he had to flee westward with many people, including Crown Prince Li Heng and Yu Chaoen. On the way, the imperial guards suddenly mutinied at Mawei Slope, and Li Heng left Xuanzong and went north.

After seeing the situation clearly, Yu Chaoen chose to accompany and serve, becoming one of Li Heng's very few followers.

After Li Heng left, he resisted the Anshi Rebellion as the Grand Marshal of the Army, and at the same time ascended the throne in Lingwu.

Xuanzong was reluctantly honored as the emperor, and it turned out that Yu Chaoen was on the right side. By serving Li Heng, he naturally became a meritorious official who protected the emperor, and was taken in as the commander of the Shen Ce Army.

The Shen Ce Army was originally a garrison in the northwest of the Tang Dynasty, but under the leadership of Yu Chaoen, this army gradually became an important pillar for the rampant eunuchs. At this time, An Lushan, the initiator of the Anshi Rebellion, had been murdered by his own son An Qingxu, who became the emperor of Dayan alone.

In 9, Guo Ziyi and nine other Tang Dynasty military governors were ordered to lead an army to attack An Qingxu, but were besieged in Yecheng by an army of 758.

Although Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were both famous generals of the Tang Dynasty, they could only manage their own armies. The one who truly commanded the entire army was the eunuch Yu Chaoen.

The besieged An Qingxu asked for help from Shi Siming, another initiator of the Anshi Rebellion. Although Shi Siming planned to send troops, he was powerless facing the Tang army.

However, Yu Chaoen took the power in his hands and decided to attack Yecheng with a large force. However, the attack failed and the food and grass were seriously depleted, which gave Shi Siming an opportunity. He began to frequently send small teams to harass the food supply of the Tang army, making it impossible for them to attack in time, which led to chaos in the Tang army.

To make matters worse, the Tang army encountered strong winds for several days, with the sky full of flying sand and rocks. The already shaken morale of the army collapsed instantly, and the Tang army could only flee in panic. A stampede occurred on the way, causing heavy losses. Shi Siming entered Yecheng without any losses, and directly dealt with An Qingxu and seized the throne of Great Yan.

The eunuch Yu Chaoen was obviously the primary person responsible for the Tang army's defeat, but he relied on Suzong's trust and tried his best to defend himself. He also put the blame on Guo Ziyi and even falsely accused him of abandoning the army and running away. As a result, this Lingyan Pavilion hero was directly deprived of his military power.

In 762, Emperor Suzong Li Heng and his father Emperor Xuanzong of Tang died together. Without Li Heng's support, Yu Chaoen began to behave himself and secretly observed the situation. At this time, the eunuchs Li Fuguo and Cheng Yuanzhen supported Li Yu as emperor.

But as Li Fuguo's power grew, Daizong Li Yu began to fear him and, with the help of Cheng Yuanzhen, eliminated all of Li Fuguo's power.

However, the government was still in chaos, because the power was transferred to Cheng Yuanzhen. Later, Tubo and other countries continued to harass the Tang Dynasty, but Cheng Yuanzhen, who held great power, was reluctant to send troops, which led to the fall of Chang'an and forced Daizong and others to flee to Huayin.

Yu Chaoen, who had been eyeing the situation for a long time, seized the opportunity at this time, and immediately led the Shence Army to rescue the emperor, and miraculously recaptured Chang'an.

His actions greatly moved Emperor Daizong. Not only did he receive countless financial rewards, he was also granted various official positions, and the Shence Army was expanded to 100,000 people.

Because of this, Yu Chaoen, who was in power, became even more tyrannical and did countless harm to innocent people. He also hated Guo Ziyi for digging up his ancestral grave, but General Guo could do nothing about it.

Daizong did not stop his behavior, which made Yu Chaoen even more indulgent, even to the point of forgetting himself.

It was not until he began to interfere in state affairs that he aroused Daizong's dissatisfaction. There is a record in history books that the prime minister at that time consulted with him and decided on some important matters, but he shouted in front of Daizong: "Why didn't you get my consent for such an important matter?" It was this sentence that made Daizong forget Yu Chaoen's kindness in saving him and suddenly felt disgusted with him.

Yu Chaoen had a son named Yu Linghui, who also served in the court, but his position was not high. Once, he was accidentally touched on the arm by a minister in the court, so he complained to Yu Chaoen, saying that the minister in the court deliberately oppressed him. Yu Chaoen was furious after hearing this, and immediately went to Daizong to ask for his son to be promoted to an official of the third rank or above.

As a result, before the emperor could even speak, he asked the official in charge of the matter to deliver the third-rank official uniform, which made Daizong very embarrassed and unhappy.

As an emperor, he had to listen to the words of a eunuch, but he was afraid of the military power in Yu Chaoen's hands, so he could only put on a smile. The shrewd prime minister Yuan Zai saw Daizong's mind and took the opportunity to speak up, expressing his willingness to help the emperor eliminate Yu Chaoen.

Finally, after a plan, Daizong prepared to host a banquet for all officials, and hosted Yu Chaoen and his accomplices separately. As a result, Yu Chaoen was killed in the palace by ambushed warriors as soon as he arrived.

In order to prevent Yu Chaoen's followers from leading the Shen Ce Army in a rebellion, Daizong concealed the news of Yu Chaoen's death and promoted his followers to higher positions to stabilize the army. Yu Chaoen had been favored by two dynasties, and his power collapsed.

However, as a representative figure of the eunuchs' abuse of power in the Tang Dynasty, his destructive power was far more than that, and he laid the groundwork for the eunuchs' monopoly of power after the Tang Dynasty. His actions of establishing and reducing the army were like child's play, which eventually became one of the important factors for the demise of the Tang Dynasty.

——"Can a eunuch have a son?"

——"He is an adopted son, or maybe he had a son before entering the palace, and then he had the surgery."

[He was torn to pieces by chariots many times but still survived. He was said to be as powerful as Xiang Yu. How powerful was he in history? Trivia and historical figures]

He was called the most powerful general in the Five Dynasties period by later generations. However, was he really as famous as Xiang Yu? In this video, we will learn about Li Cunxiao, a famous general in the late Tang Dynasty. What was he like in real history? Was he really as brave and invincible as the legend said, with an impressive record?

Legend has it that in a village in Datong and Shuozhou, Shanxi, there once stood a stone statue of a general, and the villagers called it a star that had descended to earth.

One day, a flower-picking girl named He passed by and threw the basket of flowers in her hand, which landed squarely on the stone statue. As a result, the girl became pregnant without getting married.

Although she repeatedly explained to the villagers that she was innocent, no one believed her. The villagers accused her of violating morals, and she could only live a lonely life with a bulging belly.

The child was born with supernatural powers. The girl once brought him to the stone statue to recognize his father when he was 4 years old. When the child heard that his biological father was actually a stone, he smashed the stone statue with one punch in anger. Miss He immediately forced him to respect ghosts and gods, reflect on his mistakes, and named him Anjingsi to take this as a warning.

When Jing Jing was 10 years old, he was herding sheep in the mountains and was threatened by a vicious tiger. Although he was young, he was not afraid and knocked the tiger to the ground with just one punch. At this time, a man passed by and saw this scene, so he adopted him as his son.

This person was Li Keyong, the Prince of Jin in the late Tang Dynasty. An Jingsi changed his name to Li Cunxiao and followed Li Keyong in his battles. He made many outstanding achievements and was called "Thirteen Guardians" by the people. Of course, this is just a legend. There is no record of Li Cunxiao's life in the official history.

All we know is that he was born in 858 in Jingle, Fenzhou (now Lingqiu County, Shanxi). When he was young, he was captured by Li Keyong during a war. Later, because of his good performance, he became Li Keyong's adopted son and changed his name to Li Cunxiao.

After Li Cunxiao became an adult, he was good at riding and shooting, and his martial arts were unparalleled. In 889, Li Keyong led his army to attack Meng Fangli, the governor of Zhaoyi Town, in an effort to seize the three states of Xing, Ming, and Ci. As the vanguard, Li Cunxiao made great achievements in one fell swoop, defeated all the enemy troops, and captured the enemy's main general Ma Gai alive.

Meng Fangli committed suicide out of embarrassment. In 890, Zhu Wen launched a coup and restored the imperial court. Zhu Wen sent his brave generals Ge Congzhou and Zhu Chongjie to attack Luzhou, and appointed Sun Kui, the prefect of Jingzhao, as the governor of Zhaoyi, and rushed him to Zezhou to take office.

However, Zezhou was the territory of Li Keyong, the Prince of Jin, and Sun Kui's appointment as Jiedushi was just an excuse for Zhu Wen to seize Zezhou. So Zhu Wen sent 3000 cavalry to escort Sun Kui, and also let his brave general Deng Jiyun lead troops to attack Zezhou.

After Li Cunxiao received the intelligence, he immediately led 300 elite soldiers to ambush in a strategic location and easily captured Sun Kui. He then led 5000 cavalry to rescue Zezhou and captured Deng Jiyun alive. He then moved to Luzhou. When Ge Congzhou and Zhu Chongjie, who were gathering together, heard that it was Li Cunxiao, they abandoned the battle and fled.

The imperial army won without a fight and occupied Luzhou. Although Li Cunxiao made the greatest contribution in this battle, Li Keyong made other generals the governor of Zhaoyi, and Li Cunxiao only got the governor of Fenzhou. Therefore, he began to be dissatisfied with Li Keyong.

Despite this, he still did his best in subsequent battles, but he and his sworn brother Li Cunxin were suspicious of and resentful of each other, which led to a drastic change in the relationship between Li Cunxiao and Li Keyong.

In 892, Li Keyong launched an attack on the 10-man coalition force of Wang Rong, the governor of Chengde, and Li Kuangwei, the governor of Lulong, and appointed his adopted son Li Cunzhi to assist Li Cunxiao in the battle.

As a result, the two were stuck because of their relationship. Li Keyong had to angrily send someone else. Li Cunxin then slandered Li Keyong, saying that Li Cunxiao was suspicious.

Li Cunxiao felt uneasy, so he secretly contacted Zhu Wen, offering Zezhou and Xingzhou as a condition for his submission to the court, and requested to be appointed as a military governor to attack Li Keyong.

Emperor Zhaozong of Tang agreed. Li Keyong was furious when he found out about this. In July 893, he sent troops to attack Li Cunxiao and ordered Li Cunxin to station at Liulibei in Longgang County, Xingzhou. Li Cunxiao then attacked Li Cunxin's camp at night, causing chaos in his army.

Li Keyong then led his troops to besiege the city guarded by Li Cunxiao and dug deep trenches to cut off its external connections, but was attacked by Li Cunxiao's troops and failed.

Yuan Fengtao, who once defected to Li Cunxiao, gave a suggestion at this time. He believed that even if Li Keyong dug a deep trench, he would not stay there, but let his subordinates stay and retreat. However, these people were not afraid of the deep trench and had no way out.

Li Cunxiao stopped trying to stop the advance into Bajie, but was unable to leave the city, ran out of food, and had no choice but to surrender.

Li Cunxiao once told Li Keyong that the reason he rebelled was entirely because he was framed by Li Cunxin.

After Li Keyong found out, he also wanted to let Li Cunxiao go. As long as some ministers pleaded with him, he would let Li Cunxiao go. However, Li Cunxiao's achievements had long been envied by everyone, and no one pleaded for him. In the end, he was executed by being torn apart by a chariot for the crime of treason.

In the "Romance of the Late Tang and Five Dynasties", Wang Yanzhang, the iron spear master and the most powerful general under Zhu Wen, could not last more than two rounds in the battle with Li Cunxiao.

Every time he charged into battle, his bravery was unstoppable and the enemy was terrified by his reputation, which led to the saying "I can't beat you".

There is also a story about him being executed by being torn apart by chariots: because of his natural strength, five horses were unable to tear Li Cunxiao apart when they ran wildly.

Li Cunxin thought the horsepower was not enough, so he changed horses and tried again. After five or six times, Li Cunxiao still survived, but the strong pull made him suffer.

Finally, he begged Li Cunxin to cut off his limbs and bones, and finally succeeded. Later generations cut his image into window paper-cuts based on folk tales and pasted them on doors and windows to ward off evil spirits.

According to official history, Li Cunxiao is called the most powerful general in the Five Dynasties period, but this is exaggerated by the novels. Although he is brave, he cannot be compared with Xiang Yu.

As for battle records, in our previous two videos we talked about Li Keyong’s biological son Li Cunxu and his adopted son Li Siyuan. Their combat records were both better than Li Cunxiao’s.

If he is said to be a famous general in the late Tang Dynasty, he certainly deserves the title. But if he is called the most powerful general in the Five Dynasties, he obviously cannot be included in the list.

——"There's nothing much to say. He was the most powerful during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Wang Yanzhang couldn't last more than a few rounds against him."

——"Ran Min's fighting power is also very strong. I think they are quite comparable."

——"No, Ran Min and he are not from the same period."