Zhang Wu made up his mind that he would never let go of Shi Chaoyi's army. He immediately mobilized in Zizhou and sent an envoy to Nan Jiyun in Qingzhou to tell Nan Jiyun about this.
On the other side, Li Heng was overjoyed when he heard the news that Shi Chaoyi was about to surrender.
Shi Chaoyi is the successor of Shi Siming, and his influence in Hedong is extraordinary.
Shi Chaoyi's surrender to the Tang Dynasty would definitely shake Shi Siming's military morale and shorten the time to put down the Hedong Rebellion.
For Li Heng, as long as Hedong is not pacified for one day, his achievements will not surpass that of his father.
What worries Li Heng even more is that he doesn't have much time.
Li Heng has already become aware of his body. Compared to his father, who is lively and can sing on stage, his health is no longer in good condition.
It was already June, and Li Heng still had to wear thick winter clothes. He would get hot if he got a little bit of wind and cold, and he would be sick all day long.
Li Heng took the elixir sent by the prince and the elixir sent by the princess on time every day, but his health was still not good.
Especially the elixir donated by the prince. When he just took the elixir during Zhengdan, only one pill was needed to make Li Heng feel comfortable all day long.
Nowadays, taking three pills a day can give you a slight boost to your body, but when the effects of the medicine wear off, you will feel extremely weak all over again.
Under this situation, Li Heng was even more eager to complete the war as soon as possible.
Regarding Shi Chaoyi's surrender, Zhengshitang also showed a completely different attitude.
Several prime ministers, including Pei Mian, Miao Jinqing, and Zhang Hao, firmly believed that Shi Chaoyi's surrender should not be accepted.
You must know that under the siege of Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun, Shi Chaoyi was already at the end of his strength. There was no need to accept his surrender at this time. Directly annihilating Shi Chaoyi's tribe would be a greater blow to Shi Siming.
The remaining prime ministers, headed by Cui Huan and Li Lin, believed that Shi Chaoyi's surrender could resolve the war in the Central Plains as soon as possible and provide an additional army to protect the Bianhe River water transportation.
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It took a day to discuss the outcome in the court, and the emperor decided against all opinions to accept Shi Chaoyi's surrender.
Li Heng decreed that Prince Li Chu had full authority to handle Shi Chaoyi's surrender. The bottom line of the court was that Shi Chaoyi must lead his troops to surrender and accept the reorganization and arrangements of the court.
At most, the imperial court granted Shi Chaoyi the position of military envoy of the First Army, that is, a military attaché of the fourth rank.
The imperial court could pardon Shi Chaoyi and a group of military officers for their crimes, but they had to move their families to Chang'an.
The imperial envoys immediately took a boat and went down the Bian River to Bianzhou to deliver the decree.
After Nan Jiyun received Zhang Wu's handwritten letter, he immediately took action!
Nan Jiyun has a great hatred against the puppet Yan. He lost many Paoze brothers during the siege of Suiyang. Now the puppet emperor An Qingxu has been killed, but Shi Chaoyi is also one of the chief culprits in Hedong, and now he wants to surrender to the court.
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If Shi Chaoyi surrenders, won't he have to serve as an official in the same court in the future?
The righteous Nan Jiyun did not want to associate with a rebellious minister and traitor like Shi Chaoyi, and he could not accept that this guy who caused trouble in the Central Plains suddenly became an important minister of the Tang Dynasty after surrendering.
If Shi Chaoyi was so easily forgiven, what did the people who died outside Qingzhou City do wrong?
What are those Tang soldiers who fought bravely with Nan Jiyun doing?
After Nan Jiyun read Zhang Wu's autographed letter, he immediately said to his subordinates:
"Order the troops! Give me the general armor!"
Nan Jiyun quickly gathered all the troops in Qingzhou City, and he put on the Mingguang Armor given by Zhang Xun.
On June 20th, the Qingzhou army filed out, and together with Zhang Wu in Linzi City, attacked Shi Chaoyi's tribe hiding in the mountains and forests from two directions.
On June 22, Prince Li Chu and Shi Chaoyi's envoy Luo Yue, who were waiting anxiously in Bianzhou City, received the imperial edict from the court. The court agreed to accept Shi Chaoyi's surrender and entrusted Prince Li Chu with full authority to handle Shi Chaoyi's surrender.
On that day, Prince Li Chu proposed a surrender request to Luo Yue based on the emperor's imperial edict. Shi Chaoyi went south to Bianzhou to form the Bianzhou New Army. Shi Chaoyi was appointed as the military envoy of the Bianzhou New Army and was under the control of Li Chu, responsible for guarding the Bianhe River.
Safety of water transportation.
Luo Yue immediately accepted the grace of the Tang Dynasty on behalf of Shi Chaoyi. At the same time, Li Chu, as the crown prince, wrote to Zhang Wu of Zizhou and Nan Jiyun of Qingzhou, ordering them to stop fighting immediately, and ordered the prefectures and counties along the way to prepare food and grass.
, let Shi Chaoyi's army march south to Bianzhou.
On June 23, Shi Chaoyi, who was anxiously waiting for news about Luo Yue, first received news that made him extremely anxious.
Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun attacked like crazy and had broken through the peripheral defense line set up by Shi Chaoyi. They were less than a hundred miles away from where he camped.
Shi Chaoyi could only order soldiers to guard the pass, and sent his own soldiers out to plug the gaps in the defense line, anxiously waiting for the outcome of Luo Yue's negotiations.
On June 24, Luo Yue finally arrived at Shi Chaoyi's military camp, armed with an imperial edict from the Tang Dynasty and an envoy sent by Prince Li Chu.
At this time, Shi Chaoyi's 10,000-strong army had only 6,000 left, and the morale of the army was extremely low.
Shi Chaoyi immediately set up a case, held a ceremony to accept the imperial edict with great fanfare in the military camp, and surrendered to Prince Li Chu's envoy on the spot.
Just when the prince's envoy proudly read out the imperial edict to Shi Chaoyi, Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun's army had already broken through the pass and rushed to Shi Chaoyi's camp.
Just after the imperial edict was read out, the soldiers rushed to Shi Chaoyi's side to report the military situation. Shi Chaoyi quickly knelt down in front of the prince's envoy and said:
"Your Majesty, save me!"
After listening to Shi Chaoyi's words, the prince's confidant who delivered the decree laughed, helped Shi Chaoyi up and said:
"Don't be afraid, General Shi. Now that you have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, you are your own family. I will read the imperial edict to the two generals Zhang Nan and ask them to make way for General Shi to return south to Bianzhou!"
Shi Chaoyi was overjoyed and quickly stuffed a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry into the prince's envoy. He also ordered his personal guards to protect the prince's envoy and asked them to announce to Nan Jiyun and Zhang Wu that Shi Chaoyi had surrendered.
The prince's envoy held the emperor's imperial edict and headed toward the front line surrounded by Shi Chaoyi's guards.
Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun have merged together, and they have opened the road to Shi Chaoyi's camp. Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun walked side by side, looking at the misty valley ahead, Zhang Wu said:
"General Nan, have you thought about it?"
The Mingguang armor on Nan Jiyun's body was already covered in blood. From Qingzhou to the mountains, Nan Jiyun has been leading the fight till now.
Nan Jiyun said firmly without any hesitation on his face:
"The siege of Suiyang City that day was all due to Brother Zhang. If Zhang Liushou died in the city, Nan must have followed him."
"Today, destroying the historical thieves is what Nan wants to do. Brother Zhang, why do you need to say so much?"
Zhang Wu continued to ask: "The imperial envoys have arrived and are recruiting Shi Chaoyi to surrender. We have killed Shi Chaoyi now, but we have violated the imperial court's will. Should Brother Nan still do it?"
Nan Jiyun said without hesitation:
"When Suiyang was besieged, Nan didn't know where the imperial court's will was? When Luoyang was besieged, where was the imperial court's will? Why did the imperial court's decree come when we surrounded Shi Chaoyi?"
Zhang Wu laughed and said, "It seems that Brother Nan is willing to accompany Zhang on this muddy water trip."
Nan Jiyun said seriously: "Nan is here for the people of Qingzhou."
After the two of them finished speaking, they suddenly heard Shi Chaoyi's army in front of them making a fuss. After beating gongs and drums, a middle-aged eunuch in eunuch uniform was escorted by Shi Siming's personal guards and walked towards the two armies holding a bright imperial edict.
In front of the battle.
"Qingzhou General Nan Jiyun, Yanzhou regiment training envoy Zhang Wu, accept the order!"
The prince's envoy raised his voice and shouted arrogantly to Zhang Nan's two troops.
The soldiers in the front row were indeed frightened by him and moved out of the way. Nan Jiyun and Zhang Wu rode forward side by side.
The eunuch raised his eyebrows and said, "Bold! The imperial decree has arrived, but you still don't get off your horse to receive it!"
Zhang Wu said coldly:
"Zhang is the training envoy of the Yanzhou regiment. If this imperial edict was not sent to Yanzhou, how could it be sent to the front of the battle?"
The eunuch immediately said:
"Bold! This is the imperial decree of the imperial court! Do you still want to resist it?"
Zhang Wu continued:
"If the imperial edict were sent to the Yanzhou official office, Zhang would naturally set up a case and burn incense to welcome the imperial edict. But now that the two armies are fighting, it could be the thief Shi Chaoyi's conspiracy."
"Are you going to resist the decree?"
Zhang Wu said coldly:
"The last military order Zhang received was to exterminate the remnants of Shi Chaoyi's troops in the mountains. Shi Chaoyi is a national traitor. Your imperial edict came from Shi Chaoyi's army. Please forgive Zhang for not obeying the order."
The eunuch was already a little timid. He looked at Nan Jiyun and said sternly:
"Nan Jiyun, do you also want to resist the decree?"
Nan Jiyun also said:
"The last time Nan received military orders in Qingzhou, Zhang stayed behind. The envoy went to the post station where the Ministry of War sent orders. The strict military orders have their own set of inspection rules."
"Nan has not received the imperial edict, but he has never heard of any precedent of the edict being delivered in front of the two armies."
The messenger from the East Palace who was delivering the decree was a little scared, and he forced himself to say:
"Traitor! Traitor!"
Then the messenger held up the imperial edict, faced Zhang Wu and Nan Jiyun's officers and soldiers and said:
"What about you? Do you also want to resist the decree? This is a serious crime that will destroy the nine tribes!"
Zhang Wu said coldly:
"False propagation of the imperial edict is the most serious crime in annihilating the nine clans. Zhang only knows military orders. Shi Chaoyi is a national thief who brought trouble to the Tang Dynasty. Everyone can punish him!"