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蔡王信，高祖之從弟也。 少從軍，漸至龍武小校。 漢祖鎮并州，為興捷軍都將，領龔州刺史、檢校太保。 國初，為侍衛馬軍都指揮使、檢校太傅兼義成軍節度使，尋移鎮許州，加太尉、同平章事。 高祖寢疾大漸，楊邠受密旨遣信赴鎮，信即時戒路，不得奉辭，雨泣而去。 隱帝即位，加檢校太師。 關輔賊平，就加侍中。 信性昏懦，黷貨無厭，喜行酷法。 掌禁軍時，左右有犯罪者，召其妻子，對之臠割，令自食其肉，或從足支解至首，血流盈前，而命樂對酒，無仁湣之色。 未嘗接延賓客。 在鎮日，聚斂無度，會高祖山陵梓宮經由境上，信率掠吏民，以備迎奉，百姓苦之。 初，聞殺楊邠、史宏肇，遽啟宴席，集參佐賓幕，令相致賀。 曰：「我謂天無眼，令我三年不能適意。 主上孤立，幾落賊手。 諸公勸我一杯可也。」 俄蕭墻之變，憂不能食。 尋有太后令，言立湘陰公，即令其子往徐州奉迎。 數日，陳思讓率馬軍經過城西，但令供頓，不敢出城。 未幾，澶州軍變，王峻遣前申州刺史馬鐸領軍赴州巡檢，鐸引軍入城，信惶惑自殺。 廣順初，追封蔡王。
Prince Cai Xin was a cousin of Later Han Gaozu. He entered the army young and slowly worked his way up to a junior post in the Dragon Martial Guard. While Liu Zhiyuan governed Bingzhou, Xin became commander of the Xingjie Army and also served as prefect of Gong and honorary Grand Guardian. At the dynasty's founding he commanded the palace horse guard, served as honorary Grand Mentor and military governor of Yicheng, then was shifted to Xuzhou with the added titles of Grand Marshal and vice grand councilor. As Gaozu lay dying, Yang Bin carried a secret order to send Xin back to his post; Xin set out at once without a farewell audience and left in tears through the rain. After Emperor Yin succeeded, Xin was made honorary Grand Preceptor. Once the Guanzhong rebels were crushed, he received the post of Palace Attendant on the spot. Xin was stupid and spineless, greedy beyond satiety, and fond of cruel law. While commanding the imperial guard, if a subordinate broke the law he would call in the man's wife and children, hack them apart before his eyes, and force him to eat their flesh—or slice him from foot to head until blood pooled at his feet—then order music and drink across the carnage without a trace of mercy. He never entertained guests. In his province he levied without measure; when Gaozu's coffin passed through on its way to the tomb, Xin stripped officials and commoners alike to fund the reception, and the people groaned under it. When word came that Yang Bin and Shi Hongzhao had been killed, he at once threw a banquet, gathered his staff and secretariat advisers, and told them to congratulate one another. He said, "I used to think Heaven was blind—three years I could not do as I pleased. The emperor stood alone and nearly fell into the rebels' clutches. Gentlemen, you may press a cup on me—that will do." Before long came the palace upheaval, and he was too anxious to eat. Soon the dowager issued an order to install the Duke of Xiangyin as heir, and Xin immediately sent his son to Xuzhou to escort him. A few days later Chen Siran marched the horse guard past the west wall; Xin supplied their rations but dared not leave the city. Not long after, the Dazhou garrison mutinied; Wang Jun sent the former Shen prefect Ma Duo to inspect the prefecture, and Duo marched into the city—whereupon Xin, distraught, took his own life. Early in the Guangshun reign he was posthumously created Prince of Cai.
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湘陰公赟，為徐州節度使。 乾祐元年八月中，有雲見五色。 明年冬杪，有鳥翔集於鮮碧堂庭樹，黃質朱喙，金目青翼，紺趾黑尾，有類於鳳。 有賓佐嘆曰：「野鳥入室，主人將去。」 旬浹而不知所之。 乾祐三年冬十一月，周太祖駐軍於京師，議立嗣君，奉太后誥，立赟為嗣。 傳誥之際，馮道笏墜於地，左右惡之。 馮道至，赟出郊迎，常所乘馬比甚馴服，至是馬蹄嚙奔逸，人不可制，乃以他馬代之，時以為不祥。 將離彭城，嘗一日，天有白光一道自西來，照城中如晝，有聲如雷，時人謂之天裂； 又有巨星墜於徐野，殷然有聲，或謂之天狗。 後赟果廢死。 〈（案：《湘陰公傳》原本殘闕，考《十國春秋·湘陰公傳》云：湘陰公赟，世祖子也，高祖愛之，以為己子。 乾祐元年，拜武寧軍節度使。 二年，加同平章事。 郭威既敗慕容彥超於北郊，隱帝遇弒，威入京師，謂諸大臣密相推戴，及見宰相馮道等，道殊無意。 威不得已，見道下拜，而道猶受拜如平時，徐勞之曰：「公行良苦。」 威意色皆沮，以為大臣未有推己意，又難於自立，因與王峻入白太后，推擇漢嗣。 群臣乃共奏曰：「武寧節度使赟，高祖愛以為子，宜立為嗣。」 乃遣太師馮道率百官往迎，道揣威意不在赟，直前問曰：「公此舉由衷乎？」 威指天為誓。 道既行，語左右曰：「吾生平不能謬語人，今謬語矣。」 道見，傳太后意召之。 赟行至宋州，威已自澶州為兵士擁還京師。 王峻慮赟左右生變，遣侍衛馬軍指揮使郭崇威以兵七百騎衛赟。 崇威至宋州，赟登樓問崇威所以來之意，崇威曰：「澶州軍變，懼未察之，遣崇威護衛，非惡意也。」 瑽召崇威，崇威不敢進。 馮道出與崇威語，崇威乃登樓見赟。 時護聖指揮使張令超帥步兵為赟宿衛，判官董裔說赟曰：「觀崇威瞻視舉措，必有異謀。 道路皆言郭威已為天子，而陛下深入不止，禍其至哉。 請急召令超，諭以禍福，使夜以兵劫崇威所屬士卒，明日掠睢陽金帛，募士卒，北走太原。 彼新定京邑，未暇追我，此策之上也。」 赟猶豫未決。 是夕，崇威密誘令超歸郭氏，盡奪赟部下兵。 郭威以書召道先歸，留其副趙上交、王度奉赟入朝太后，道乃辭赟先還。 赟謂道曰：「寡人此來，所恃者以公三十年舊相，是以不疑。」 道默然。 赟客將賈貞等數目道，欲圖之，赟曰：「勿草草，事豈出於公耶！」 道已去，崇威乃幽赟於外館，殺賈貞、董裔及牙內都虞候劉福、孔目官夏昭度等。 郭威已監國。 太后乃下詔曰：「比者，樞密使威，誌安宗社，議立長君，以徐州節度使赟，高祖親近，立為漢嗣，乃自藩鎮，召赴京師。 雖誥命已行，而軍情不附。 天道在北，人心靡東，適當改卜之初，俾應分士之命。 赟可降授開府儀同三司、檢校太師、上柱國，封湘陰公。」 赟卒以殺死。 《五代史補》：郭忠恕，七歲童子及第，富有文學，尤工篆隸。 嘗有人於龍山得鳥跡篆，忠恕一見，輒誦如宿習。 乾祐中，湘陰公鎮徐州，辟為推官。 周祖之入京師也，少主崩於北岡，周主命宰相馮道迎湘陰公，將立之。 至宋州，高祖已為三軍推戴。 忠恕知事變，乃正色責道曰：「令公累朝大臣，誠信著於天下，四方談士，無賢不肖皆以為長者，今一旦返作脫空漢，前功業並棄，令公之心安乎？」 道無言對。 忠恕因勸湘陰公殺道以奔河東，公猶豫未決，遂及於禍。 忠恕竄跡久之，晚年尤好輕忽，卒以此敗，坐除名配流焉。）〉
The Duke of Xiangyin, Yun, held the Xuzhou military governorship. In the eighth month of Qianyou 1, five-colored clouds were seen. Late the following winter a bird settled on a tree in the Fresh Green Hall courtyard—yellow-bodied, vermilion-beaked, with golden eyes, blue-green wings, violet feet, and a black tail, rather like a phoenix. One of his advisers sighed and said, "When a wild bird flies indoors, the master is about to leave." Ten days later it was gone, and no one knew where. In the eleventh month of Qianyou 3, Zhou Taizu camped at the capital to choose an heir; obeying the dowager's patent, he named Yun successor. As the patent was read out, Feng Dao's tablet slipped to the floor—those around him took it as a bad sign. When Feng Dao arrived, Yun rode out to meet him; the horse he always used had been thoroughly tame, but now it champed the bit and bolted beyond control, so they switched mounts—people read it as an ill omen. On the eve of leaving Pengcheng, one day a shaft of white light shot in from the west and lit the city like noon, with a thunderous roar—folk called it Heaven splitting; and a great star crashed on the Xuzhou plain with a deep boom—some called it the Heavenly Dog. Yun was indeed later deposed and killed. (Editor's note: the base 《Biography of the Duke of Xiangyin》 is corrupt; the 《Ten States Spring and Autumn》 account reads: the Duke of Xiangyin Yun was a son of Shizu; Gaozu doted on him and raised him as his own. In Qianyou 1 he was made military governor of Wuning. The next year he was made vice grand councilor. After Guo Wei routed Murong Yanchao north of the capital and Emperor Yin was murdered, Wei entered the city and asked the chief ministers to back him in secret; when he met Feng Dao and the rest, Dao showed no inclination whatsoever. Wei had no choice but to bow to Dao; Dao accepted the bow as usual and said slowly, "You have had a hard road of it." Wei's face fell; he took it that the ministers were not yet backing him and that seizing the throne on his own would be hard, so he and Wang Jun went in to the dowager to have a Later Han heir selected. The ministers jointly memorialized: "Wuning governor Yun, whom Gaozu loved as a son, should be made heir." Grand Preceptor Feng Dao was sent at the head of the bureaucracy to escort him; sensing that Wei did not mean Yun, Dao stepped forward and asked, "Does this come from your heart?" Wei swore by Heaven. Once on the road, Dao told his attendants, "I have never lied to anyone in my life—today I have lied." When Dao met Yun, he relayed the dowager's summons. Yun reached Songzhou while Wei had already been carried back to the capital from Dazhou by his troops. Wang Jun feared trouble from Yun's entourage and sent palace horse-guard commander Guo Chongwei with seven hundred cavalry to escort him. At Songzhou, Yun climbed a tower and asked why Chongwei had come; Chongwei said, "The Dazhou garrison mutinied—we feared you had not heard and sent me to guard you, not to harm you." Yun summoned him, but Chongwei dared not come up. Feng Dao went out to speak with him, and only then did Chongwei mount the tower to see Yun. Inspired Guard commander Zhang Lingchao led infantry on Yun's night watch; aide Dong Yi urged him, "From Chongwei's bearing and movements, he clearly has another plot. Travelers all say Guo Wei is already emperor, yet you press on—will disaster not soon arrive? Summon Lingchao at once, show him the stakes, and have him seize Chongwei's men by night; tomorrow strip Suiyang of gold and silk, raise troops, and flee north to Taiyuan. They will have just taken the capital and will not have time to chase us—that is the best plan." Yun wavered and could not decide. That night Chongwei secretly won Lingchao to Guo Wei and stripped Yun of every soldier. Guo Wei summoned Dao back by letter, leaving deputies Zhao Shangjiao and Wang Du to escort Yun to the dowager; Dao took leave of Yun and went ahead. Yun told Dao, "I came trusting you as my minister of thirty years—that is why I never doubted." Dao said nothing. Yun's staff officers Jia Zhen and others eyed Dao, ready to strike; Yun said, "Do not be hasty—surely this is not his doing!" Once Dao was gone, Chongwei locked Yun in an outer lodge and killed Jia Zhen, Dong Yi, inner headquarters deputy Liu Fu, clerical officer Xia Zhaodu, and the rest. Guo Wei was already regent. The dowager then issued an edict: "Recently Commissioner Wei, seeking to secure the realm, chose a mature ruler; Xuzhou governor Yun, close to Gaozu, was named Han heir and summoned from his province to the capital. Though the patent had gone out, the armies would not follow him. Heaven's mandate lies in the north, hearts will not turn east—at this moment of changing the augury, let him take the fate allotted to his rank. Yun is demoted to Acting Third Rank, honorary Grand Preceptor, Supreme Pillar of State, and enfeoffed Duke of Xiangyin." Yun was ultimately killed. 《Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties》: Guo Zhongshu passed the child-examination at seven, was deeply learned, and excelled at seal and clerical script. Someone once found bird-track seal script on Long Mountain; Zhongshu read it at a glance as though he had studied it for years. During Qianyou, while the Duke of Xiangyin governed Xuzhou, he was hired as investigating officer. When the Zhou founder entered the capital, the young emperor died on the northern ridge; the Zhou ruler ordered Feng Dao to escort the Duke of Xiangyin and install him. At Songzhou, Gaozu had already been acclaimed by the three armies. Zhongshu saw how matters stood and rebuked Dao to his face: "You are a minister of many reigns, trusted throughout the realm; scholars everywhere, worthy or not, call you an elder—yet in a morning you become a hollow fraud and throw away a lifetime's standing—can your conscience be at ease?" Dao had no answer. Zhongshu then urged the duke to kill Dao and flee to Hedong; the duke wavered, and disaster followed. Zhongshu hid for years; in old age he grew especially reckless and finally fell because of it, stripped of rank and exiled.) End of editorial note.)〉