PS: Thanks to Brother Eagle Zhou for becoming the master of this book!
On the twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month of the third year of Tianyou's reign, the Yan army marched out of Taihangxing and crossed the Yellow River at Mengjin Ferry. Mengjin Ferry is located to the north of Heqing and is a cheap place to cross the Yellow River. The river is narrow and the water is not deep, so it is easy to build a bridge.
Since ancient times, it has been as famous as Fenglingdu, which is 300 miles upstream, and is an important crossing point.
At this time, there were still six or seven pontoon bridges in good condition on several miles of river at Mengjinkou. It was winter, and many shallow water sections were frozen, which was suitable for the Yan Army's huge baggage fleet to pass.
The sergeants of the brigade crossed the river from each pontoon in turn, singing the unique military song of the Yan Army. Although the formation was deliberately not kept in order according to the military order, and the steps were messy, the calmness and murderous spirit honed in the battle made the soldiers
Exuding a unique kind of confidence.
Accompanied by the sound of military songs, deafening chants were heard from several icy shoals on the river. Various vehicles of the Yan Army were pulled by sergeants and logistics soldiers, winding toward the other side along the safe areas that had been measured in advance.
And go.
The cavalry were carefully leading the horses, spread out far apart in formation, and followed the cart onto the ice, connecting them with ropes to prevent them from accidentally falling into the water if the ice broke.
Li Chengzhong stood on a high hill next to the ferry, watching the army crossing the river. He was surrounded by more than a dozen generals and subordinates, all wearing gray-white Yan Lings. However, it was Li Siben who had just surrendered.
A gift from Yunzhou.
Under the high hill, on a row of marching tables that were transformed into xi chariots, a large group of Yuhou's staff members were working hard around the map, and the sergeants waiting in line next to them received the military orders one by one, and then galloped away on horseback.
Hundreds of camp heads, dozens of supplies, thousands of carts, tens of thousands of horses and mules crossing the river and setting up camp. It can be exhausting to death!
The town of Heqing County, five miles south of the ferry, was already shrouded in smoke, where the sergeants' lunches were being cooked, and large pots of hot water were being cooked.
In this eastward expedition to Henan, the Yan Army mobilized a total of 150,000 troops, with more than 10,000 cavalry from the Zhaozhou Army led by Zhao Ba and Yuan Xingqin as the vanguard. Li Chengzhong and the General Administration of Military Staff personally led the Cangzhou Army, Mozhou Army, Weizhou Army, and Youzhou Army.
The state army, Jinzhou army, and hundreds of supplementary battalions are the central army, and Zhao Hongde and Cui He lead the logistics battalions and baggage as the rear army.
In addition to the Eastern Expedition Army, the Yan Army restored the Shangdang camp setup. Zhou Kan, the general manager of the Training Department, was the camp general manager, and Jiang Miao, the general manager of the Education Department, was the camp supervisor. They were responsible for the training of new recruits. They had jurisdiction over the Dingzhou Army and the Guizhou Army.
Two armies, including Wang Sitong and Li Dingnan's Dingzhou Army, guarded Zelu, Gao Xingzhou, and Zhang Huijing's Guizhou Army guarded Heqing and Heyang. They guarded the two strategic locations of Mengjindu and Sishui Pass.
The General Administration of Military Staff established a new Shaanzhou camp to deter Shaanzhou with the Huaiyue coalition forces of Jie Li, Zhang Shunqian, and Zhao Rang, and the Yingzhou army of Jiao Chengqiao, Wei Keming, and Zhu Yuanyou to hold Hongnong, to deter the pass in the west and to deter the south.
Yelu Xieli of Xichuan was appointed as the general manager of the camp, and Jiao Chengqiao was appointed as the military supervisor of the camp.
The main function of the Shangdang camp was to reorganize and train the soldiers and provide a steady stream of new recruits for the Eastern Expedition army; the main purpose of the Shaanzhou camp was to intimidate Qi and Shu and prevent Li Maozhen and Wang Jian from stealing the victory of the Yan army's Shangdang battle.
The two major camps are located in the east and west, sandwiching the eastern capital Luoyang. According to His Highness King Yan, this is to protect the safety of the emperor.
Hundreds of thousands of troops crossed south, and the scene was so spectacular. Li Chengzhong was standing on a high hill, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of heroism in his heart. Just as he was looking left and right, a group of people came from the rear and reached the bottom of the high hill.
After a while, a Yuhou ran up quickly and said a few words to Han Yanhui. Han Yanhui nodded, then took two steps forward and came to Li Chengzhong.
After the victory of the Shangdang, Li Chengzhong's prestige was at its peak, and his ministers and subordinates were more and more in awe of him. Even Han Yanhui was unconsciously infected by this emotion. At this time, he naturally bowed to Li Chengzhong and reported to Li Chengzhong with extremely humble Confucian etiquette.
: "Your Highness, someone is coming from Luoyang." Heqing is not far from Luoyang, which is equivalent to the northern gate of Luoyang. In later generations, it is basically equivalent to the outer suburbs of Luoyang. It is not surprising that someone is coming from Luoyang at this moment.
Li Chengzhong looked at the hundreds of thousands of troops belonging to him on the river, his face tilted slightly, and he asked: "Who are they?"
"The servant under the sect is in trouble alone."
"Dugu loss?" Thanks to the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics' deployment in Luoyang, although Li Chengzhong was far away from the east capital, he was not completely unaware of what was going on in the court. After Cui Yin and his party members were killed by King Liang, the court was empty.
, those important ministers with Sufu's prestige have almost completely died. Above the current central committee, all middle and lower-level officials have been promoted quickly. There are now three ministers in the political hall, the right servant of the minister, Pei Shu, and the servant Dugu Sun.
Liu Can, the assistant minister of Zhongshu, was suddenly promoted from Hanlin bachelor's degree and was responsible for the management of affairs. Among them, Pei Shu was the prime minister, Dugu Shan was in charge of Duzhi, and Liu Can was in charge of household affairs.
Dugu Sun was one of the three prime ministers of the political affairs hall. In previous years, he would have been considered a high-ranking minister with all the power in the government. But unfortunately, in this unlucky year, let alone Li Cheng, even in the eyes of Han Yanhui, he was just one person.
A lamb to be slaughtered has no status at all.
"What is he here for?" Li Chengzhong asked casually, his eyes still scanning the army crossing the river. When he watched the movie about the decisive battle before crossing the river, he felt that the army in the movie was really majestic, but now that he was there, he realized the reality.
It was more shocking than the movie, so I couldn't bear to take my eyes away.
"It is said that I came to see His Highness on the orders of the Emperor."
"Oh, let him come up." It's not that Li Chengzhong was deliberately domineering, but that with his strength and status, these etiquettes no longer need to be considered. Therefore, he said this sentence very naturally and at all.
I didn't think deeply about it.
But as soon as he said these words, Han Yanhui and Zhang Xingzhong, Zhong Shao and other generals who were standing behind him were overjoyed. They all felt as if they were drinking mellow wine and felt relaxed and happy.
Not long after, Dugu Sun, with a look of anger on his face, climbed up the hill and came to Li Chengzhong. Dugu Sun felt very angry. As an envoy of the emperor, Li Chengzhong, even though he was a prince, was also a lineage recorded on the royal jade certificate.
, he should have come down to greet him, how could he dare to ask him to come up to see him without moving even half a step? Although the center is weak, no vassal town has ever treated an angel like this. Even Li Maozhen, who has repeatedly kidnapped the emperor,
Zhu Quanzhong, who forcibly moved the capital, behaved respectfully and strictly in front of the emperor or angels!
Dugu Sun wanted to walk away, but when he thought of the heavy responsibility he had, he finally suppressed his resentment.
"Your Majesty heard that the Shangdang had won the decisive victory and sent me to express my congratulations!"
"That's easy to say. Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Chengzhong nodded. Because he had never met the emperor, and no one told him what etiquette you should use when the emperor congratulates you, so Li Chengzhong calmly thanked Dugu Sun, and that's it.
It's over.
After waiting for a while, but not waiting for Li Chengzhong's formal etiquette, Dugu Shan almost suffered from internal injuries. After being embarrassed for a long time under Li Chengzhong's curious eyes, he said: "Your Majesty said that there is such a powerful hero in the clan.
, I am sincerely happy for it, but I have never met His Highness, but I wonder if His Highness has time to go to Luoyang to talk about it?"
When he said this, Dugu Shan's heart immediately became tense. The decisive battle between the Yan army and the allied forces of the princes in Shangdang attracted worldwide attention. Of course the emperor in Luoyang was concerned about it. After hearing that the Yan army's victory was great, the whole of Luoyang was shocked.
The emperor also fell into an extremely contradictory and entangled situation.
It is said that the emperor was relieved when King Liang was defeated. A big mountain that had been weighing on his heart for a long time suddenly disappeared. This feeling of relief was very refreshing. However, King Yan brought hundreds of thousands of troops to the south, but he felt extremely frightened.
The emperor still remembered that when he heard about Li Chengzhong's rise in Hebei, he cheered for him. When he heard that the Yan army defeated Liang Jun many times, he was so excited that he cried. But when the Yan army achieved a decisive victory, how could he suddenly be so scared?
Trembling all over?
News of the Yan army's crossing of the river from Mengjin reached Luoyang. The emperor immediately remembered the past that when the Yan army's cavalry appeared at the end of last year, the 30,000 soldiers he had recruited disappeared in an instant, so he urgently summoned his officials on his sickbed to discuss.
, and didn’t have any good ideas. In the end, he could only let Dugu Sun go to “congratulate him” and use the excuse of inviting King Yan to the capital to see if King Yan would send his army to Luoyang. This was the real reason for Dugu Sun’s visit.
.
"Luoyang?" Li Chengzhong thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I don't have time now. The army is going to march eastward and wipe out Henan as soon as possible. I would like to ask my husband to report back to your majesty and see you again in the future?"
Dugu Sun's clenched heart suddenly relaxed, and he immediately said: "In that case, I wish His Highness a successful expedition to the east."
Dugu Shan returned to Luoyang and went straight to the palace. In the Qianyuan Hall, he heard that Li Chengzhong had no intention of entering the Eastern Capital. The emperor and his ministers all exhaled happily. The emperor leaned on the treasure couch and waved weakly.
Let people remove the soldiers hiding behind the wall of Qianyuan Hall. Based on the calculations of the emperor and the important ministers, if King Yan really sends his army into the city, there is really no way to stop it. The only way is to hide the soldiers and wait for King Yan
Fighting out during a banquet may give you a chance to survive. This is already a last resort. It is best not to use it if possible.
"Is King Yan really loyal to the Tang Dynasty and to me? Is it true that he is just domineering? Why not enter Luoyang?" The emperor frowned and thought hard, puzzled in his heart.
The emperor's doubts also existed among the generals of the Yan army. Han Yanhui, Zhang Xingzhong and others looked at each other, wondering why Li Chengzhong didn't "take the opportunity" to go to Luoyang?
Han Yanhui always spoke out boldly in front of Li Chengzhong, so he was also known as "Han Bold". When he was about to ask Li Chengzhong, he heard Li Chengzhong say: "Send an order for the prince to set off today and move to the East Palace in Zezhou."