Why was Zhu Zhen, Zhu Wen’s trusted assistant in the early stages of entrepreneurship, killed by him

At the beginning of Zhu Wen’s entrepreneurship, more than 80 old brothers followed him to conquer the world. After a period of arduous struggle, Zhu Wen reasonably and legally occupied Bianzhou. Interested readers and history encyclopedia editors, let’s take a look together!
At the beginning of Emperor Taizu’s uprising, Zhen, along with more than 80 people including Pang Shigu, Xu Tang, Li Hui, Ding Hui, Shi Shucong, Deng Jiyun, Wang Wu, etc., joined forces with Zhong Juan to break through the formation and make a decisive move.
The relationship between these old brothers and Zhu Wen is actually more like that of a partner, because among them, there are probably not many who are willing to be pure laborers, and no one wants to have a large stake in Zhu Wen Group.
Is there a mistake in the pursuit of these old brothers Zhu Wen? From the perspective of brotherhood in the martial arts world, there is nothing wrong with it. Because if we start a business together, we should share the fruits, and if we go through life and death together, we should have equal status.
But in terms of political struggle, it is clearly a heinous crime.
Because a brother franchise style group cannot generate strong combat power, and there is always a risk of fire or even collapse. So from Zhu Wen’s perspective, any old brother who tries to compete with him is like a rebel.
When it comes to the struggle in troubled times, we often have a misconception that those who participate in the competition are like characters in a game: as long as they are your subordinates, they will always listen to you.
In fact, how to make subordinates listen to oneself is always a big problem. Especially when your subordinates have the ability to compete with you, it’s really difficult to expect them to listen to you.
The old brothers who started with Zhu Wen, or the later franchisees who invested, are not fuel-efficient lamps. If they were fuel-efficient lamps, it would be impossible to climb to that position.
It’s not easy for Zhu Wen to make them listen. As long as everyone has a little management experience, they will naturally know that managing the most ordinary dozens of workers and making them all listen to you is not an easy task. How difficult it is to manage numerous heroes in chaotic times like tigers and wolves.
No matter how we criticize the high and mighty imperial power, one thing is certain: in a small-scale farming society, only when the imperial power is high can society achieve stability; When imperial power weakens, it usually means instability and even war for a vast small-scale farming society.
During the Tang and Five Dynasties period, the warlords had to face a thorny problem, which was how to strengthen centralization.
As a big brother, only by strengthening centralization can his group continue to grow and become stronger; Only by strengthening centralization can his group achieve lasting stability. Otherwise, the shadow of internal strife would be enough to make his team weak and even collapse suddenly.
After the Huang Chao Rebellion, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty constantly tried his best, but despite his efforts, he was unable to control his subordinates and instead made them constantly face each other.
We must know that Li Maozhen and Han Jian, who later rose to power in Guanzhong, as well as Wang Jian, who rose to power in Sichuan, strictly speaking, all started with the support of the Tang Emperor. However, the Tang Emperor’s control over them gradually weakened. In this context, the central government of the Tang Dynasty could only become increasingly weak.
Later on, the Zhu Wen faction gradually declined due to Zhu Wen’s inability to effectively control the internal situation. In fact, the iconic event that caused the rise and fall of the Zhu Wen family was the betrayal of one of Zhu Wen’s older brothers.
At that time, Zhu Wen had already unified Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong, and had a strong momentum of sweeping through Shanxi and Hebei. However, at a critical moment, Ding Hui (one of Zhu Wen’s eighty old brothers when he started his business) suddenly surrendered to Li Keyong with Luzhou. With the knife behind Ding Hui’s back, Zhu Wen was killed in a panic and never recovered.
At the beginning, Emperor Zhaozong was posthumously executed in Luzhou, and the military governor of Zhaoyi, General Ding Huishuai, shed tears for a long time. Li Sizhao attacked Luzhou and surrendered his army to Hedong. Treat them with kindness and respect, and place them above the generals. Ji Si, Zhu Quanzhong ordered the troops to equip their attack tools and launch an attack on Cangzhou. Renshen, heard that Luzhou did not defend; Jiaxu, lead troops back.
When Zhu Wen started his business, there were eighty old brothers who fought together with Zhu Wen, and Zhu Zhen ranked first.
He was stationed in Bian by Emperor Taizu and concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the expedition. He appointed Zhen as the Right Censor of Xuanwu, with a central position. So we simplified the military personnel, tailored the rules and regulations, flattened the nest and defeated the Cai, and gained valuable strength.
Of course, for similar reasons, Zhu Zhen had a tendency for Zhu Wen to compete with each other in the early stages of his career.
The first time the conflict between Zhu Zhen and Zhu Wen became public was when Zhu Zhen wanted to take her family out of Zhu Wen’s control. What was his plan?
Upon discovering this, Zhu Wen immediately detained Zhu Zhen’s family and killed the person who had released them.
Zhen sent someone to welcome his wife to Daliang, but Quan Zhong was not completely loyal. Quan Zhong was angry and chased after his wife, killing the gatekeeper.
At that time, Zhu Wen even wanted to turn against Zhu Zhen directly, but he was afraid of forcing her to rebel, so he endured it.
Feng Yijingxiang, the inspector of the post office, advised, “Zhu Zhen was not easily taken lightly, fearing that he might guess and be afraid of change.” He was completely loyal and remorseful, and ordered someone to stop him. Zhen Guo doubts himself. On the night of Bingzi, Zhen sets up wine to summon all the generals.
In theory, Zhu Wen wanted to restrain these old brothers by a simple method, which was to continuously improve the status of later franchisees with stocks, and Zhu Wen did indeed do the same.
Perhaps due to similar reasons, Li Tangbin’s position in the Zhuwen Group has been increasingly high.
Li Tangbin surrendered to Zhu Wen from the Huangchao camp only after Zhu Wen took control of Bianzhou. After entering the Zhu Wen group, Li Tangbin’s military status gradually rose and he soon became as famous as Zhu Zhen.
Li Tangbin, from Shaanxi County, Shaanxi Province. In February of the fourth year of the Zhonghe era, Shang Rang led his troops to invade Fantaiye, and Tang Bin, along with Li Qiao and Huo Cun, became Chao generals. They fought against the army of Taizu outside the Wei Gate. In March, Taizu broke through Wazi Village, and Tang Bin and Wang Qianyu surrendered.
He defeated the forces of Yun, Huai, and Xu in front and behind, and was as brave as Zhu Zhenlue. He was also skilled in using spears and was the first to fall into battle. He is skilled in managing military affairs and is also on par with Zhen.
Zhu Wen asked the two of them to work together, obviously to let Li Tangbin (a stock franchisee) restrain Zhu Zhen (his old brother). The contradiction between these two people, on the surface, is caused by the two talented people being together, neither of whom is willing to accept the other, but in fact, it is because Zhu Wen needs them to restrain each other.
At the beginning, Zhu Zhen, the commander of Xuanwu, and Li Tangbin, the commander of the Chen and Zhan Zhuo tribes, were equally brave and accomplished. They were loyal to each other in every battle, and the two of them fought together without fail; However, the two of them are not compatible.
Based on the meaning of those old brothers, it is natural to believe that the world was conquered by them, so it should also be enjoyed by them.
The problem is that as the number of franchisees with stocks increased and their status rose, Zhu Wen’s old brothers naturally felt very unhappy.
Especially when these stock franchisees, with the support of Zhu Wen, intentionally or unintentionally want to compete with them, these old brothers are even more unhappy.
Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin often have conflicts, which is a good thing for Zhu Wen because it proves that they can constrain each other.
However, as their conflicts become increasingly intense, there is a problem because it will affect their collaboration. Finally, one day, Zhu Zhen couldn’t help but kill Li Tangbin.
Tang Binsu did not agree with Zhen and became angry, so he reported it to her. Zhen also angrily said, ‘Tang Bin is impolite!’ He then drew his sword and beheaded him, and Zhen ordered his cavalry to report his situation. When Emperor Taizu first heard of the death of Tang Bin, he was shocked.
What is the nature of Zhu Zhen’s killing of Li Tangbin? Without going online, it would be rebellion and chaos.
Because this is equivalent to the commander killing the political commissar or the commander killing the chief of staff. Striking and killing at the same level is itself rebellion and rebellion. Because of such significant personnel power, it must be reported to superiors. As for the rise and fall of senior generals like Li Tangbin, it can only be decided by Zhu Wen. Zhu Zhen dares to make decisions without authorization. What is the purpose of this?
After the news of Zhu Zhen’s execution of Li Tangbin reached Zhu Wen’s headquarters, Jingxiang did not immediately tell Zhu Wen, but waited until the night to inform him of the news.
The meaning of Jingxiang’s actions is very simple, that is, we must be cautious because if we handle it improperly, Zhu Zhen may rebel at any time.
In this context, Zhu Wen arrested the entire family of Li Tangbin in prison because after Zhu Zhen killed Li Tangbin, she accused Zhu Wen of Li Tangbin’s rebellion. Now that Zhu Wen has arrested the entire family of Li Tangbin, it is equivalent to recognizing the legality of Zhu Zhen’s killing of Li Tangbin.
Huainan was under the command of Sima Jingxiang, fearing that Quanzhong would take advantage of his anger and hastily deal with the situation, so he sent envoys to capture the night and calmly deal with it. Quanzhong was greatly surprised. Due to his artistic strategy, Xiang falsely imprisoned Tang Bin’s wife and sent his cavalry to comfort her. He remained loyal to her and the army began to gain peace.
Next, Zhu Wen personally entered Zhu Zhen’s army and arrested him using a surprise attack.
In this context, everyone pleaded on behalf of Zhu Zhen, but to no avail. Because Zhu Wen can tolerate such things, the Zhu Wen Group will always be just a loose alliance of brothers. So, Zhu Wen held an uncompromising attitude towards this, and Zhu Zhen was killed.
Emperor Taizu then went straight to Xiao County, away from Xiao Yi’s residence. Zhen led his troops to pay their respects, and Emperor Liangzu ordered the warriors to execute him, accusing him of killing specifically and ordering Ding Hui to carry out the slaughter. They all kowtowed dozens of people including Huo Cun to save them, but Taizu was angry and threw them on the bed before retreating.
At that time, Zhu Wen’s most capable generals were Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin. And these two generals were eliminated during the audition stage. However, Zhu Wen Group did not weaken as a result, on the contrary, it continued to move towards glory day by day.
After the deaths of Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin, Pang Shi replaced Zhu Zhen and Huo Cun replaced Li Tangbin.
At the beginning, after the deaths of Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin, Pang learned from Gu Gu Zhen and survived as Tang Bin. His achievements in battles and conquests were mostly the same as Shi Gu’s.
The cooperation between Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin is a collaboration between the old brothers Zhu Wen and franchisees with stock ownership; The cooperation between Pang Shigu and Huo Cun is also the cooperation between the Zhu Wen brothers and franchisees with stocks. In other words, Zhu Wen’s way of controlling the army did not change as a result.
Pang Shigu was also one of Zhu Wen’s eighty elder brothers, with outstanding military achievements and a prestigious status.
Huo Cun surrendered to Zhu Wen from the Huangchao camp only after Zhu Wen took control of Bianliang. Huo Cun was also one of the most famous commanders under Zhu Wen’s command.
In the process of group development and growth, control and counter control are inevitable behaviors.
Not to mention Zhu Wen, he is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Since the An Lushan Rebellion, he has been playing this game with the military leaders because no one wants to pursue independent power.
Of course, the bigwigs of the Tang and Five Dynasties period were even more susceptible to vulgarity.
In a general sense, the bigwigs of the Tang and Five Dynasties were unable to effectively control their subordinates, so the result was usually that once they died, their orphans and widows would be bullied by their subordinates.
Strictly speaking, this game of control and counter control officially ended after Song Guangyi came to power. Because although Zhao Kuangyin was very talented, he also withdrew from the historical stage in the candlelight axe shadow; His son also had a difficult ending due to his uncle’s suspicion.
When Zhu Wen killed Zhu Zhen, Li Keyong and Li Cunxiao also began to turn against each other, and shortly thereafter, Li Keyong killed Li Cunxiao. We must know that Li Cunxiao is the top general under Li Keyong’s banner, and he has also made numerous military achievements.
In this sense, the significance of Li Ke’s killing of Li Cunxiao is comparable to that of Zhu Wen’s killing of Zhu Zhen.