Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 47 Huo Fen and Ling Chi (Special thanks to book friend 2023...8382 for the 2 monthly passes! Thank you twice!)
Chai Zongxun said angrily:

"In vain, my father treated the Zhao brothers with sincerity and promoted them many times. Little did he know that the two of them were despicable villains with ulterior motives and sinister intentions!

Gao Qiong, after a while I will have you confront the thief Zhao Kuangyi and make him die so hard that he cannot deny it!
If you do what I want, I will let you choose a descendant and keep him without killing him! "

Gao Qiong kowtowed repeatedly and shouted: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

Chai Zongxun said: "Go and fetch Thief Zhao."

Tang Qi, the chief eunuch in front of the palace who was standing behind him, immediately stepped out of the hall and gave the order.

About half an hour later, the sound of "choking" came from far and near outside the hall. Zhao Kuangyi staggered into the hall under the escort of several forbidden soldiers.

As soon as he entered the palace, Zhao Kuangyi saluted Chai Zongxun on the throne. He held the salute very respectfully and said in a hoarse voice:
"The guilty minister Zhao Kuangyi, please see your Majesty! Long live my emperor! Long live my emperor!"

These days, his wife Fu Jinding, Mrs. Xunyang, who used to often visit Tianlao, has not come for many days, which has made Zhao Kuangyi suspicious.

At this moment, the emperor suddenly asked for interrogation in the prison, and he couldn't help but feel terrified in his heart.

Chai Zongxun snorted and said:
"Zhao Kuangyi, take a closer look at the people in the palace! Hurry up and report to me everything you did about poisoning my father!"

Zhao Kuangyi turned to look at the people kneeling in the hall, only to find that they were Gao Qiong, a close confidant in his palace, and Monk Shouneng and Monk Chiayi who were in meditation with their eyes closed.

Zhao Kuangyi turned pale with fright. Three of the seven souls were frightened away, and his whole body began to tremble involuntarily.

Li Tao pointed at Zhao Kuangyi and said sternly:

"When the late emperor was in Japan, I have already said that the Zhao brothers are treacherous and unbecoming of human ministers!
But the late emperor didn't listen! The late emperor was too kind and trusting of you two thieves, so that he allowed your two thieves to expand in power. In the end, your ambition poisoned the late emperor! "

Wang Zhu sighed and said:

"The late emperor and our ministers are all upright people. Who would have thought that the two thieves of the Zhao family had such vicious intentions and such despicable characters?! They actually resorted to such despicable means of using poison?
Fortunately, His Majesty was born and killed the Zhao family with a thunderous blow. Only then can we protect our Chinese orthodoxy and our country, the Great Zhou Dynasty, from falling into the hands of traitors and harming the nation! "

Zhao Kuangyi was so frightened that he kept tapping his teeth. He knew in his heart that Gao Qiong, Monk Shouneng and Monk Chiayi were already here, and his conspiracy would have been completely exposed.

If he refuses to plead guilty, it will only increase the hatred and revenge of Emperor Chai Zongxun, Li Tao, and Wang Zhu.

Zhao Kuangyi kowtowed to Chai Zongxun on the golden throne and said:
"Your Majesty, the guilty minister has always been loyal to the late emperor, Your Majesty, and our great Zhou Dynasty. Everything was done by the traitor Zhao Kuangyin who wanted to seize power and usurp the throne and instigated the guilty minister!

I beg your majesty to open your eyes and spare the life of the guilty minister. The guilty minister will work hard for your majesty to unify the world and sweep the world! "

Chai Zongxun laughed for a while and scolded:
"Zhao Kuangyi, you are so despicable! Now you are blaming Zhao Ni for everything?!
Do you want to use your poison-making skills to serve me? "

Zhao Kuangyi said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty, I have been studying the art of using poison for several years. I am willing to use poison to kill Li Jing and his son from the Tang Kingdom and Meng Chang from the Shu Kingdom, so that your Majesty can take over the lands of these two countries without a single blow!"

Chai Zongxun pondered for a moment and coldly snorted:
“How dare I keep you, such a treacherous and sinister person!
My father is wise and wise, cares about the country and the people, and cares about the people, but he was poisoned by you two thieves!
I will avenge my father!
The thief Zhao Kuangyi will be identified and executed at noon tomorrow at Wuchao Gate in the capital!

Monk Ci Shouneng and Monk Chiayi were burned in the busy city!

Gao Qiong, the thief, left all children under one or three years old in his house, and the rest of them, as well as those in Zhao thief's house, were all beheaded! "

Zhao Kuangyi and Gao Qiong in the hall were frightened and fainted when they heard this. Monk Shouneng and Monk Chiayi said in unison:
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for not bringing harm to Buddhism! This poor monk is willing to burn himself to apologize to the late emperor and the people of the world!" Li Tao and Wang Zhu saluted together and said:

"Your Majesty is wise! Although the people of the world do not know the inside story of Zhao Thief poisoning the late emperor, the late emperor must be happy under Jiuquan!"

Tang Qi immediately stood up and left the Huangji Palace to deliver the order. Within a moment, several forbidden soldiers entered the palace, dragged Zhao Kuangyi and four others out of the palace, and threw them into the sky prison.

On July 16, the first year of Kaixi, Zhao Kuangyi was tied up in Lingchi, Wuchaomen. The executioner cut him with more than 3,000 knives, and the execution was not completed until July 20.

More than 300 people in Zhao Kuangyi's mansion were beheaded outside the Meridian Gate; two monks, Shouneng and Chiayi, recited homage at Duanqu Street in Bianjing, then stepped into the fire and burned themselves to death.

Gao Qiong spared the life of his son Gao Jixun, who had just turned one year old, and more than 1 people in the whole family were wiped out.

The crowds of people watching in Bianjing could not guess why Zhao Kuangyi and the two monks were executed on the same day. There was a lot of discussion for a while. There were countless versions of the story in later generations, and many novels and dramas competed to speculate on this matter.

The news that Zhao Kuangyi, the last remnant of the Zhao party, was killed by Ling Chi reached the ears of Li Jing, the leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, on September 12th.

Li Jing was born in the second year of Zhenming in Later Liang (AD 916). He was a native of Pengcheng, Xuzhou, and the eldest son of Li Min, the martyr of the Southern Tang Dynasty. His first name was Xu Jingtong, and he changed his name to Yao and Boyu. In 940 AD, he changed his name to Li Jing.

In the fifth year of Emperor Xiande's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty (958 AD), Emperor Shizong marched southward, defeating a hundred thousand troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty and occupying all the land north of the Yangtze River.

Li Jing surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty and changed his name to Li Jing to avoid Zhou's taboo. Tribute gold and silver goods every year, and the anniversary number will be numbered after use.

Li Jing immediately summoned his confidant, Privy Envoy Tang Hao, to the palace for discussion.

Li Jingdao:
"Tang Aiqing, news came from Bianjing at the end of last year that Empress Dowager Fu and the young emperor Guo Zongxun planned to kill Zhao Kuangyin and his party. At that time, they slaughtered more than 30,000 people from nine tribes, leaving only Zhao Kuangyin's younger brother Zhao Kuangyi. It was not until a few days ago that he went to Lingchi in the busy city. put to death.

I originally thought that Zhao Kuangyin and his party were executed, and there must be a lack of generals in the Zhou army, causing chaos.

Unexpectedly, Han Tong, Zhang Yongde, and Li Chongjin benefited greatly from the killing of Zhao Kuangyin and his party during the Great Zhou Dynasty! The confidant generals of the three men were all promoted. In addition, the Great Zhou court also greatly increased the salaries of the sergeants of the Forbidden Army and the Returned Army, so that the combat effectiveness of the Great Zhou army increased instead of falling.

In February of the first year of Kaixi this year, Zhang Yongde led his bodyguards to defeat the Han Dynasty in Xingzhou and beheaded 70,000 people. It was amazing!
Ten days ago, the Jiedu envoys of Quan and Nanzhou, Liu Cong, followed this traitor and openly declared their allegiance to the Great Zhou Dynasty and no longer obeyed my orders!
Tang Aiqing was summoned today to discuss how to deal with this matter. "

Tang Hao was also good at poetry and poetry, which made him popular with Li Jing and Prince Li Yu.

He once wrote a poem that said: "The flowers in the lotus are better, and the moon in the clouds grows new." This praise is said to be the first woman to start foot binding and the beloved concubine of Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

After pondering for a moment, he said:

"Your Majesty has always been tolerant of Liu Congxiaoben, but who would have thought that this traitor would dare to openly betray us, the Tang Dynasty!"

If Your Majesty does not launch an army to attack it as soon as possible and frighten the military governors from all over the country, not a single inch of our territory in the Tang Dynasty will be safe. "

Li Jingjing nodded and said:
"I also plan to raise an army to attack it.

But now the Empress Dowager Fu of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the young emperor have accepted the traitor Liu Congxiao and surrendered. If I attack him, the Great Zhou Dynasty will take the opportunity to raise a large army to invade my Jiangnan. What will I do? "

(End of this chapter)