Chapter 687: The Storm in Hebei (Part 1)

The night is dark, and thick dark clouds cover the sky. Without moonlight and starlight, you can't see the objects clearly within a dozen steps. In the darkness, the Yellow River is difficult to see clearly. After autumn, this vast river no longer flows like summer, but it is like the dim sea that gradually becomes calm after a storm, but there are still rippling waves on the water.

This is the best time to cross the river in the year. Under the cover of night, a hundred stone fishing boat was sailing northward in the undulating waves. Apart from the three boatmen, there was only a man in a gray robe with a cargo posed beside him. He looked like a businessman, but his firm eyes and his always straight waist showed that he was not a businessman, and a small businessman could not have the possibility of hiring a boat to cross the river.

He is indeed not a businessman. He is a scout of the Tang army, named Zhou Yuan, who crosses the river to carry out an important task.

He crossed the river from Luxian in Jeju and went to Boju on the other side. Although the river surface in this area is wide, the water is gentle and it is very convenient to cross the river. The boat drove on the river for more than half an hour. Gradually, he had seen the dark and undulating shadows on the other side, which were the woods on the other side. Seeing the woods means that he was very close to the shore.

"Oops!"

The boatman who had been silent suddenly started to scream, and the sound of paddling came from the night. They were surrounded by two patrol boats, one left and one right.

"Twist the oars into the water and kneel on the boat, or we will shoot arrows!"

The two patrol ships had reached ten steps away, and there were more than a dozen soldiers on each of them, all holding crossbow arrows and staring at them coldly.

"Listen to them!"

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, I'm here to find them."

Several oars were thrown into the water. The boatmen knelt down and raised their hands high. Zhou Yuan also knelt down. The hull shook violently. Several soldiers of Doctor Wei jumped onto the ship. They did not say a word and began to search the ship.

The torch lit up, and a torch approached Zhou Yuan, illuminated his face, and a sharp knife pressed on his neck, and the other party said coldly: "Are you a spy on the other side?"

Zhou Yuan raised his hand and said calmly: "I am just a messenger, I will send you General Tian a letter."

With a 'bang!', someone slammed the hilt on the back of his head with the knife, and Zhou Yuan was knocked unconscious all of a sudden.

"Damn it, even though he is a spy, he dares to lie to me. I will kill you!"

The head of Wei Bo Military Captain frowned and stopped his companions' crimes, "Don't be reckless, search him first."

The two quickly searched Zhou Yuan's body, and one of them shouted: "Finished!"

He found a letter from Zhou Yuan's arms and handed it to the captain, "Head, do you think this is it?"

Wei Bo Military Academy knew a few words. He took the letter and looked at the fire. He immediately stood up in fear, "Hurry up, wake him up!"

After a moment, Zhou Yuan was woken up by the other soldier slapped the face. The captain returned the letter to him and clasped his fists and said, "I'm so sorry, we are routine."

Zhou Yuan took the letter and waited for the headache to calm down a little, and said, "Time is tight. Please take me to see your General Tian. In addition, this ship has nothing to do with me, please let them go."

The captain waved his hand and said, "Let this ship be released."

Zhou Yuan and they boarded the patrol boat. The two patrol boats quickly walked away and disappeared into the heavy black fog. The boat escaped from danger and began to return.

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From the rebellion of An Lushan to Shi Siming’s self-reliance, and then to the Battle of Anshi Yizhou, it lasted for more than a year. At this time, Hebei was already full of wilderness and thousands of miles of Chiye. It turned out that the population of millions of people had dropped sharply to 10%. The remaining population lived in a few areas such as Youzhou, Weizhou and Yingzhou.

Today, the consequences of warlords' melee have emerged. Whether for An Lushan, Shi Siming or Tian Chengsi, the most important resource is no longer food and pig iron, but people. Without people, there is no food, and without food, it cannot support their army.

Tian Chengsi had 60,000 troops in his hands, and the Wei, Bo and Bei prefectures he controlled had more than 200,000 people. These more than 200,000 people were obviously unable to support the 60,000 troops. In desperation, Tian Chengsi had to order the army to participate in the military farming. Not only that, he also tried every means to collect the population from various prefectures and counties and implement strict ration allocation.

However, the development of the situation is obviously becoming increasingly unfavorable to Tian Bingsi. An Lushan was defeated by Shi Siming, Youzhou changed its ownership, An Lushan fled to Yingzhou, and the short-term balance in Hebei was broken, and Tian Chengsi would face Shi Siming's impact directly.

These days, Tian Chengsi has always been unable to sleep. Although among the generals in Hebei, Tian Chengsi is called a cunning fox. Although the fox is cunning, it has a lasting end. Now, Tian Chengsi is forced to the corner at this time.

Night had already fallen, and the lights in the room were light and dark, which made Tian Chengsi's thin figure last for a long time. He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, and a sand table was placed behind him. It was the entire topographic map of Hebei Road. Tian Chengsi was worried about his way out.

Tian Chengsi was about fifty years old, thin and tall, with a slightly hunched back, a long thin face, and a fox-like eyes, which made him cunning and resourceful. He was an old Han general in Fan Yang's army and one of An Lushan's confidants. After occupying the entire territory of Hebei, An Lushan ordered him to lead 50,000 people to station in the important states of Wei, Bo and Bei in southern Hebei.

Of course, he was not a kind man. The first thing he did when he arrived in Weibo was to confiscate all the grain and iron tools in the residents' homes and distribute the food on a daily basis. In this way, it would be difficult for them to escape. Similarly, all the young and strong men gathered together to farm and distributed food to their families with their performance.

When men work hard, their wives and daughters can eat more food. When men are lazy or complain about disobedience, they will take away food from their family. This trick is very vicious, causing nearly 100,000 young and strong men to farm and work for him like cattle and horses, ensuring the supply of military rations for his army.

Among the generals in Hebei, Tian Chengsi was called a cunning fox. During the turmoil in Hebei, his fox-like character began to appear. Cai Xide was destroyed, Li Guiren was finished, and Shi Siming turned against him. However, Tian Chengsi had always preserved his strength and was not affected at all. He also quietly absorbed many defeated soldiers and brought his troops to 60,000.

In the past few days, he received two major information, one was that An Lushan was defeated and the remnants fled to Yingzhou, the other was that the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed, and Li Qing'an had completed the unification of the Tang Dynasty except Hebei Road.

The next step of Li Qing'an must be Hebei. He is only a matter of time and time to recover Hebei. In fact, Tian Chengsi had long seen Li Qing'an's strategy. It was not that Li Qing'an did not have the strength to recover Hebei. The reason why he was slow to recover Hebei was to keep An Lushan and hang it on the heads of the Tang Dynasty scholars and people, so that he would have the excuse of An Lushan rebelling in everything he did. When his wings matured, he would come to deal with Hebei.

Now that the Southern Tang Dynasty has been destroyed, it means that Li Qing'an's wings have matured and it is inevitable to take action against Hebei.

The situation in Hebei has become clear. An Lushan and Shi Siming have become puppets. The forces that have been lurking behind them have finally come to the forefront. Shi Siming's backstage are the Uighurs, while An Lushan's backstage is the Khitans. The reason why they can maintain a strong army even when the Han people are almost killed is that where does the food come from is actually the supply of the Khitans and the Uighurs.

Judging from the racial structure of their army, there were almost no Han people. Shi Siming's army was dominated by Turks and Uighurs, while An Lushan's army was the Khitans and Xi people. A few Han soldiers in their army also became military slaves, and the Han army was concentrated in the hands of Li Huaixian and Tian Chengsi.

From the perspective of the nation, Tian Chengsi was undoubtedly on the front line with Li Qing'an, and surrendering to the court was his inevitable destination. Tian Chengsi knew this very well.

But Tian Chengsi did not want to surrender to Li Qing'an easily like this. What he wanted was to maximize the benefits. It depends on what Li Qing'an gave him. After Li Huaixian surrendered, he was given the position of the Duke of Beiping County and the General of Right Wu Guard. What about him, Tian Chengsi? What can he get?

At this time, footsteps came from the yard, and soldiers reported outside: "Master General! The patrol sentry caught a message soldier, who was sent by the Tang army to deliver the letter."

Tian Chengsi turned around, he pondered for a moment, and then ordered: "Take him in!"

After a moment, the Tang army scout Zhou Yuan was taken into the house. Zhou Yuan bowed and bowed, "Zhou Yuan, the captain of the Tang army scout camp, met General Tian!"

Seeing that this person was quite polite, Tian Chengsi nodded slightly, "What do you have to give me?"

The letter was already in the hands of the personal soldiers. A personal soldiers submitted the letter. Tian Chengsi took it and his eyes flashed with a hint of shock. This was actually a handwritten letter from Li Qing'an to him.

‘King of Zhao, Li Qing'an, the Grand Marshal of the World, sent to General Tian Bingsi to Wei Bo, Tian Chengsi,' Tian Chengsi restrained his inner tension and opened the letter.

'His Excellency General Wei Botian, the Hebei Rebellion has been a tiger-like spy on the Central Plains by Hu horses. The Uighur Turks borrowed Shi Siming to invade the Central Plains in the south. The Khitan Xi people borrowed An Lushan and wanted the tiger to swallow Hebei and drink horses in the Central Plains. Where can the general go? The generals are all children of the Han family, and An willing to be driven by Hu chiefs, kill their parents and insult their sisters. Sighing the prosperity of Hebei, today it is scorched earth, thousands of miles of naked land, white bones are exposed, and life is devastated.

As the marshal of the world, Li Qingan did not allow the Chinese kingdom to fall into the iron hoof of the barbarians. He wanted to lead the official army north to expel the Tartars and restore the pride of the Tang Dynasty. However, he could not bear the perishment of the Han families. He specially advised the general to return to the Tang Dynasty, confer his wife and be a general. He must not be obsessed with it. Otherwise, the general will not be able to protect his life, but will be insulted into another list of treacherous and slandered for thousands of years. I hope the general will think twice, and Li Qingan will respect him! Also, Hebei is important now, and protecting the people is the best.’

Tian Chengsi read Li Qing'an's letter three times and figured out the meaning of each word. What he was concerned about was how Li Qing'an would confer him. The letter was very clear. Feng Yin's wife, Le General, Yin's wife is a title, and General is a position, which means similar to Li Huaixian.

Tian Chengsi glanced at the scout who was delivering the letter and asked again: "Does Captain Zhou have any other letters to me?"

"The word "is eight words, "Treat my people well, and be more than Huaixian". I don't understand what it means, please understand it yourself."

Tian Chengsi nodded and ordered his side to "take him down and treat him well."

Zhou Yuan was taken down, and Tian Chengsi slowly walked to the sand table and repeated the meaning of this sentence, that is, as long as he treats the people well, his future position will surpass Li Huaixian. However, nearly 300,000 Han people in Wei, Bo and Bei are under his control and do not kill them like Cai Xide and Li Guiren. Although the people have a little hard life, they will definitely survive.

Tian Chengsi picked up the letter again and looked at the last sentence, "Another, Hebei is important now, and protecting the people is the best." On the surface, this sentence was forgotten by Li Qing'an and added at the end, but Tian Chengsi knew that in Li Qing'an's identity, he would rather rewritten than forget anything and add at the end. This was obviously because he deliberately added at the end, which was a hint, implying what he did? It was the same meaning as Zhou Yuanlai's oral message.

What is Li Qingan hinting at himself?

Tian Chengsi stared at the sand table, which was like lightning in his mind. He suddenly remembered something, and he slapped his forehead hard. He understood that the people fleeing to the five states.

A few days ago, he received information that about 60,000 refugees from the five prefectures including Mo, Ying, Shen, Ji, Cang were led by Zhang Xun, the county magistrate of Qiong County, Yizhou. Originally, Tian Chengsi wanted to make the idea of ​​these 60,000 refugees, but he was worried that he would have a conflict with Shi Siming's army, so he endured it.

It turned out that Li Qing'an wanted him to save the refugees who fled in these four prefectures, so the condition was that Huaixian was above Huaixian. Tian Chengsi was a little moved. Li Huaixian was named the county duke. If he was above him, he would be the national duke. Even if he was not allowed to be the national duke, he would add the titles of Kaifu Yitong Sansi or Shaoshi Shangshu.

Tian Chengsi knew that even if he surrendered, Li Qing'an would slowly demote them in a few years, but it was another contribution to protecting Li Qing'an's reputation for protecting the people. His wealth in the second half of his life might be in this move.

Thinking of this, he became anxious. He was very worried that Shi Siming had sent troops to capture these Han people and offer them to the Uighurs.

"Come!"

With a shout, he immediately stood up with a messenger, "Please give the order!"

"Transfer my order, the First Army and the Second Army are ready to set off immediately, and I will go north in person!"

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The war between An Lushan and Shi Siming gave Zhang Xun and others a loophole. They came out of Baiyangdian and began to organize people to flee on a large scale. This time, the escape took two months. Countless people from timidity to follow, from despair to hope, from children to old people, from one person to sixty thousand people, a huge fugitive team was finally formed. Sixty thousand people from Mozhou, Yingzhou, Shenzhou, Jizhou and Cangzhou, they finally realized that there was only one way to think about staying in Hebei, and the instinct to survive made them finally defeat their attachment to their hometown. They began to set off and go to the seaside of Cangzhou. They believed that the court would send a boat to pick them up, and they set off.

In mid-August, this huge army of fleeing troops finally arrived at Baishi Town east of Qingchi County. This place belongs to Qingchi County and is also a small town closest to the sea. When you walk forward, you will be in the deserted mudflat area for hundreds of miles.

According to the agreement, the fleeing army advanced east along the floating water, and hundreds of large ships that picked them were waiting at the floating water into the sea. This was also everyone's hope, but they did not know that a 20,000-man Shi Siming army had already reached eighty miles away.
Chapter completed!