After hearing the news, Li Heng subconsciously took a step back, tried hard to control his trembling lips, and said, "Then retreat to Lingwu?"
Li Chu didn't understand why my grandfather was so scared and lost the dignity of the Tang Dynasty royal family in front of the rebels. Moreover, he had not lost all his strength yet and still had room to make a decision.
"Your Majesty has forgotten? Pugu Huai'en has defected to Shuofang. I think it is not appropriate to go to Lingwu."
"What should we do?!"
Li Heng's voice became shrill. He also realized that he was too panicked. He tried to appear calmer and said: "Guo Ziyi... yes, Guo Ziyi is coming back soon. Guard Jingzhou City and attack when Guo Ziyi arrives."
Retreat from Xue Ni."
Li Chu glanced at Li Heng strangely and replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, if Guo Ziyi does not obey the imperial edict, we will be passive."
"No!"
The person who retorted sharply this time was actually Li Fuguo. He sensed Li Heng's panic and came to the rescue, saying: "Guo Ziyi is loyal to Qin Tiguo, and must be on the way to King Qin. He only needs to hold on for a few more days, and Jingzhou City will have enough food."
If you are satisfied, why fear rebellion?"
Li Chu was angry when he saw that the eunuch dared to refute him. If it were Li Tan who had this matter, he would have taught him a lesson on the spot, but Li Chu could bear it and did not have an attack for the time being. He just followed Li Heng's wishes and agreed to hold on to the city. At the same time, he sent people
Go and urge Guo Ziyi again.
They have pinned all their hopes on Guo Ziyi, and are just waiting for Guo Ziyi to come...
~~
Shangdang County.
"The earth is extremely high and is aligned with the sky, so it is called Shangdang." This place is located at the junction of Hedong, Hebei, and Henan, south of Taihang Mountain, on the top of the mountain. Fukou Xing, one of the Eight Trails of Taihang, is located here, so
The terrain is dangerous and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is said that "if you win the party, you can hope to win the Central Plains."
At the beginning of the Anlushan Rebellion, Li Longji transferred the former Beiting Protector and Jinwu General Cheng Ang to Shangdang County, firstly to guard key areas, and secondly, to send troops to Henan and Hebei at any time.
Unfortunately, until Li Longji fled south, Cheng Ang failed to find a chance to send troops to quell the rebellion.
Of course he wants to make great achievements, rather than acting like an unsheathed sword that can only serve as a deterrent.
Later, Li Cong sent a general named Zhang Guangsheng to announce the decree. For some reason, Cheng Ang didn't like Zhang Guangsheng at first sight, and thought how could the imperial court send such an ugly man? Wouldn't it damage the imperial court's face? Then
He also thought that Prince Qing himself was an ugly man with scars on his face.
Unexpectedly, not long after the conversation, Zhang Guangsheng actually said: "You still judge people by their appearance, but you are really a woman at heart."
Cheng Ang was immediately surprised. He didn't react at first, then stood up and pointed at Zhang Guangsheng and said, "You...you are Gao Xianzhi?"
Zhang Guangsheng smiled, and the scars on his face became more and more ferocious. But his eyes showed relief.
The two didn't get along well when they were in Anxi, it could be said to be very bad. But after experiencing so many changes and meeting again, things have changed and people have changed, and what they feel more is sighing.
"You can't even defeat An Lushan, and you've become like this." Cheng Ang taunted a few words, which was to clear up all the previous resentment.
Zhang Guangsheng laughed at himself: "Just think that I lost to An Lushan. What about you? Are you going to stick to the Shangdang like a girl who has never left the house? Are you afraid of losing?"
"Fuck your mother." Cheng Ang scolded, "I have asked for orders several times, but there are so many changes in the court. I was only asked to serve the king, not to defeat the invaders."
"Then the opportunity has come. Your Highness has ascended the throne, vowed to wipe out Hu Ni, and accept the decree!"
Cheng Ang didn't move.
He is neither blind nor deaf, and knows the major events in Guanzhong. The two princes have ascended the throne respectively. A wise man should wait and see, and not make bets too quickly.
"What? Are you afraid of going to war?" Zhang Guangsheng said: "I'm right, you are a person in your heart..."
"If you accept the order, then accept the order!" Cheng Ang slapped the case and stood up, cursing: "I can serve as a soldier who loses his head at any time in the Western Regions. What should I be afraid of?"
He pointed his thick and strong beard towards Zhang Guangsheng, as if he was deliberately showing off. Now, he looks even more handsome than Gao Xianzhi.
After receiving the decree, Cheng Ang wrote a memorial proclaiming Li Cong as emperor and handed it to Zhang Guangsheng, who immediately ordered his troops to carry out great actions.
As expected of a general in the West, An Qingxu couldn't sit still in Luoyang as soon as he took action, and ran across the Yellow River under the attack of Wang Sili, Li Sheng, Zhang Xun and other generals. Cheng Ang received the news to block the attack, and defeated An Qingxu.
More than a hundred people fled to Xiangzhou.
Just when he was preparing to annihilate An Qingxu in one go, he received orders one after another from Li Longji and Li Heng, telling him not to "rebellion" anymore. Moreover, the food and grass in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers were cut off, and Chang'an was facing a crusade and had no time to visit eastward.
By the time Li Guangbi personally went to Hedong to preside over the counter-insurgency, he had actually missed the best opportunity to counter the rebellion. He could only suppress Henan and restrain An Qingxu from gathering people to cause rebellion again.
Later, Guo Ziyi also marched into Shangdang, and various forces began to confront each other on both sides of the Taihang Mountains.
During these days, Cheng Ang lobbied between Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, which still played a role in stabilizing the overall situation. According to his wishes, whether King Qing or King Zhong succeeded to the throne, everyone should get rid of An Qingxu together first.
This is correct, but to march and attack Xiangzhou City, farmers must be recruited to transport a large amount of food and grass across the Taihang Mountains and across the Yellow River. This matter cannot be solved. Li Guangbi hoped that the Jianghuai River could transport food across the Yellow River. Guo Ziyi said that the emperor and the saints would not allow the Jianghuai River to transport food to the enemy.
, he doesn’t have this power either.
In addition, Li Guangbi's mother was asked to leave by Guo Ziyi, and one can imagine the pressure he faced.
After long negotiations, the generals finally reached a compromise, settling the rebellion first and not intervening in the royal dispute. Therefore, Guo Ziyi did not attack Chang'an, and Li Guangbi did not support Chang'an with food and grass, and instead surrounded Xiangzhou City with troops.
But An Qingxu was not idle during this process. He sent an envoy to Fan Yang to tell Shi Siming that if Shi Siming was willing to support him, he would be willing to pass the throne of Dayan to Shi Siming.
Tang Jun obviously didn't expect An Qingxu to have such a fantastic idea, but it was indeed effective.
Since Shi Siming retreated to Fan Yang, he has obtained the money and grain transported back to Fan Yang by the rebels, recruited a large number of border warriors, and has strong soldiers and horses. He has also been conferred by Li Heng as the King of Guiyi, who serves as Fan Yang and Pinglu Jiedushi, and his ambitions are high. After receiving An,
Ying Xu was immediately moved by the promise and marched south.
Fighting against Shi Siming is different from besieging Xiangzhou City, and requires more cooperation between each other. When Cheng Ang and Li Guangbi were still worrying about how to achieve mutual trust with Guo Ziyi, Guo Ziyi received an edict from Li Heng to summon him as King Qin.
Chang'an's mission to Li Guangbi and Cheng Ang was still to suppress the rebellion and control the impact of the rebellion as much as possible.
For this reason, Cheng Ang personally rushed to Li Guangbi's camp to discuss with him.
"In my opinion, it is not a bad thing to ask Duke Guo to withdraw his troops."
The two of them were walking by the Huan River, and Cheng Ang said: "If you invite him to fight against An, Shi, it is inevitable that he will meet with us and other soldiers, and his loyalty and justice will not be balanced. It is better to take advantage of his mistakes and let him return to the court.
Let Mr. Li be loyal and filial."
Li Guangbi said: "Shi Siming has great power, but our food and grass are not as strong as our troops. I'm afraid we are no match for him."
"Li Gong defeated Shi Siming several times in the past, but now he is afraid?" Cheng Ang slapped his chest and said, "If Li Gong doesn't have confidence, there is someone like Cheng!"
In fact, Li Guangbi was more worried about the impact on the situation in Guanzhong after Guo Ziyi returned to help. But he then thought about it, does it really matter who becomes the emperor?
Rather than worrying about Guo Ziyi assisting Li Heng in pacifying Chang'an, it is more important to restore stability in Hebei as soon as possible.
"Then let's each obey the imperial edict."
Several generals each had their own persistence and helplessness. They all hoped to live up to the king and live up to the people, but the balance was difficult to grasp. They each received their orders and ended the confrontation in early autumn.
Guo Ziyi left in a hurry. When he was leaving, he sent someone to return Li Guangbi's old mother, as well as dozens of carts of property and food. They were his private property and were used to help Li Guangbi fight the rebellion. Everyone around Guo Ziyi was good, but some arrogance was good.
Enjoy, it is not easy to come up with this money.
Li Guangbi personally went to Huguan to greet his mother. The old lady was in good spirits and had a rosy face. She said with emotion: "Don't worry, Mr. Guo has never treated me badly. The country is in a difficult situation, so I can only be more considerate."
Although he was worried that Guo Ziyi would severely defeat King Yong Li Guangbi when he went there, Cheng Ang had already put his mind on fending off the enemy.
At the end of July, Shi Siming sent Fan Yang's 130,000-strong army to arrive.
Suddenly, the land of Hebei was filled with dust and smoke again, and the rebels were so powerful that the Tang army did not dare to challenge them. They had to retreat temporarily and wait for the court's support. Cheng Ang returned to Shangdang, and Li Guangbi returned to Huaizhou.
After Shi Siming arrived, he did not enter Xiangzhou to join forces with An Qingxu, but took the opportunity to conquer Weizhou. Two days later, he set up an altar to worship heaven in Weizhou and called himself the "Great Sage King of Zhou".
He sent Li Guiren to station 10,000 soldiers and horses in Fuyang to support Xiang Zhouyuan, and at the same time blocked An Qingxu, because Shi Siming's arrival was originally aimed at the throne of Dayan.
The rescue of Xiangzhou did not require an army of 130,000. Shi Siming was determined to make progress. In fact, he wanted to take advantage of the situation to capture Chang'an and create a new dynasty.
There are still two ways to attack Chang'an, one is to take Taiyuan, the northern capital, and the other is Luoyang, the eastern capital. The terrain east of the river is higher and overlooks Guanzhong. It is possible to advance and defend, so Shi Siming sent Cai Xide and 10,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang.
Cheng Ang was a fierce general. When he saw the enemy invading, he would lead his troops to make raids every day. He had many brave cavalry from the Western Regions under his command, riding on Dawan horses, coming and going like flying. Cai Xide was unable to deal with it, so he had to retreat two miles and think hard about how to win.
"Eating dog intestines, Cheng Ang is too ferocious."
"General, why should you worry? I think Cheng Ang is nothing but a reckless man."
Cai Xide thought to himself, how could he deal with such a ferocious and capable man who could defeat clever people? He turned around and saw that the person speaking was his general An Taiqing, so he asked, "What good plan do you have?"
"Cheng Ang relies on his excellent horses from the Western Regions, which come and go like the wind. Whenever our army slacks off, he will sneak attack. If our army wants to pursue, he will retreat. The general will have a plan..."
After An Taiqing whispered in his ear, Cai Xide asked in surprise: "Is it feasible?"
"The general will know once he tries."
The next day, Cai Xide went to the city with his light cavalry to call out to Cheng Ang. Cheng Ang then led a hundred cavalry out and charged suddenly.
Although he was well prepared, Cai Xide was frightened when he suddenly saw the Tang army's cavalry approaching, so he turned his horse and left.
"Rebellion costs your life!"
Cheng Ang shouted and fired two arrows from his horse, both of which hit the rebel soldiers, causing the rebels to rebel.
Cai Xide was planning to lure the enemy, but he underestimated Cheng Ang, and secretly complained in his heart. After running for several miles, and almost being captured alive by Cheng Ang, finally, reinforcements arrived from the front led by An Taiqing.
"Surround and kill them!"
An Taiqing originally wanted to lure Cheng Ang further away, but when he saw that he almost killed Cai Xide, he was so frightened that he was sweating profusely and quickly drove his cavalry up.
Seeing that he had been tricked, Cheng Ang reined in his horse and ran away. He actually led his troops to kill more than ten people in a row, and cut a hole in the encirclement to break out of the encirclement.
??????????.??????
Seeing this situation, Cai Xide couldn't help but lamented that it was difficult to win, but An Taiqing let him continue to chase.
The rebels chased them to the Zhangshui River and saw Cheng Ang already crossing the bridge.
"Retreat your troops."
"There's no rush, General, wait and see."
Cai Xide looked around and saw Cheng Ang riding his tall horse onto the wooden bridge from a distance. Suddenly, with a loud crash, both the man and the horse fell down.
"Haha." An Taiqing laughed and said, "I have quietly ordered people to break the bridge and ask the general to capture Cheng Ang quickly!"
…
"Bang!"
Horse hooves as big as bowls stepped on the wooden bridge, followed by a loud crash. Cheng Ang fell into the stream with his heavy armor. He felt severe pain in his waist and abdomen. He wanted to get up but was completely unable to do so.
His horse also broke its leg and whined in pain.
"General!" The soldiers on the shore exclaimed in surprise and tried to go down to the mountain stream to rescue him.
But the rebels' hoofbeats were already clattering from far to near.
"Walk!"
Cheng Ang shouted: "Go back and tell the generals to defend the city well. You can lose the commander, but you can't lose the city, and you can't lose the Tang Dynasty!"
"I'll come to save the general..."
"Go away!" Cheng Ang shouted angrily: "How dare you not listen to my military orders?!"
The soldiers on the shore burst into tears and had no choice but to remount their horses and run upstream to find another bridge back to the city.
Cheng Ang couldn't bear to hear the horse's mournful neighing, so he struggled to drag his heavy body with his arms, got close to its neck, took out his dagger, and ended its pain.
After doing this, he wanted to pull out the dagger and commit suicide. However, due to the serious injury and blood loss, he fainted and his eyes fell into darkness.
Soon, shouts of joy rang out from the mountain stream.
"Cheng Ang is here!"
"Pass my order and seize the opportunity to join the party!"
~~
Guo Ziyi planned to cross the Yellow River from Xizhou to support Li Heng.
Anyone else would have been dissatisfied if he was ordered around like this. But Guo Ziyi did not, and remained calm as usual. He was used to seeing the autumn moon and spring breeze, and the impermanence of things in the world, and he never spent his energy on what other people would do.
Be lenient with others and strict with yourself. Whether the monarch is wise or weak, he intends to fulfill his duties as a minister... To put it simply, he does not ask Li Heng to do anything.
Such a style of conduct can be regarded as an example of a good minister in the eyes of the king.
However, before the army could cross the river, a messenger from behind caught up and handed a battle report to Guo Ziyi.
"Mr. Guo, unfortunately my general has been captured. The party is in danger. Please support me, general!"
When Guo Ziyi heard this, before he could react, behind him, Xing Yanen, the eunuch sent by Li Heng, stood up immediately and started scolding him.
"Do you think I don't know that this is a treacherous plot by you and others? Xue Ni and Hu Ni have been colluding for a long time. I think Shi Siming went south this time to rescue Xue Ni!"
The messenger from Shangdang did not dare to argue with Xing Yanen, and fell to the ground, crying and begging: "Mr. Guo, the general would rather die than to defend the Shangdang. We are afraid of betraying the general's trust, so we can only ask Mr. Guo to save us."
Xing Yanen said: "Mr. Guo, the saint is still waiting for you in Jingzhou, King Qin!"
While both sides were trying to persuade each other, another general from the army came over. Seeing that Xing Yanen was there, he remained silent and handed two letters to Guo Ziyi.
"Jie Shuai, this is the information obtained by the sentry horse."
Guo Ziyi remained calm and did not open the letter she received until she returned to her tent alone.
To his surprise, the first letter was actually written by Li Mi. Li Mi was actually captured. Although he did not surrender, he believed that it was not appropriate for the loyal king to resist stubbornly at this time. It would be more beneficial to the overall situation to abdicate and return Chang'an.
The handwriting on the second piece of paper was smooth and beautiful, and it was written by Xue Bai.
Xue Bai's tone was very sincere and he did not mention too much about the power struggle between Li Cong and Li Heng. He just reiterated his promise to Feng Changqing. After that, he predicted at large what would happen to the General Assembly if Shi Siming was allowed to go south.
What a profound impact it had on the Tang Dynasty and later generations.
In addition, Xue Bai promised that as long as Guo Ziyi was willing to quell Shi Siming's rebellion, the Chang'an court could send an edict to Taiyuan and order Wang Jin, Yuan Jie, Yan Jiming and other Hedong officials to cooperate fully and raise food and grass for him.
This was no small concession, and Guo Ziyi was moved when she saw it.
At the end, what Xue Bai said was that the Tang Dynasty had many loyal ministers and good generals with endless talents. If the rebellion continued to spread due to the selfishness and weakness of the superiors, wouldn't it be a failure of countless heroes who had died in battle before?
When he wrote this letter, Xue Bai didn't know about Cheng Ang. When Guo Ziyi saw this, she couldn't help but think of Cheng Ang's cry after he fell off the broken bridge.
"You can lose the coach, you can't lose the city, you can't lose the Tang Dynasty."
~~
The wind blew the big flag on the top of Jingyuan City, and the soldiers under the flagpole stared nervously outside the city. However, Xue Bai did not order a storm.
In fact, his situation was not too good. Chang'an City was tired of men and horses, lacked food and grass, and had many enemies. Li Heng was facing him in the northwest, Shi Siming was marching south in the northeast, and in the south, Li Longji had announced a crusade against him.
Xue Bai had a hard time fighting this battle. He just pretended to be calm and intended to force Li Heng to surrender.
That day, Xue Bai took a telescope and looked at the big flag at the top of the city. A quartermaster came over and reported in a low voice: "King Yong, the army's rations are about to be exhausted. Do you want to distribute one day's worth of food every two days?"
"Can we still transport food from Chang'an?"
"It stopped a few days ago. Today the messenger came back and said that there is no food in Chang'an."
Xue Bai called for another person and asked, "Is there any new news from Hedong?"
"King Hui Yong, not yet."
It seems that Guo Ziyi did not reply, perhaps because he has not yet made a decision, or perhaps he has arrived quietly with his Qingqi.
Xue Bai was 60% sure that he could convince Guo Ziyi, because he claimed that everything he did was in the interests of the world, and he also believed that it was only with loyal ministers like Guo Ziyi that the Tang Dynasty could survive.
But the result is still unknown, which is the most worrying thing.
He walked for a few steps, then an idea came to his mind, and he told the soldiers: "Send an envoy to Jingzhou City and invite Li Chu to come out of the city to meet me."
Many generals in the army were very surprised when they heard about this, thinking that it was impossible for Li Chu to come out of the city to see him.
But the next day, Li Chu came anyway. He rode his horse out of the city, crossed the suspension bridge, and stationed his horse two arrows outside the city, waiting for Xue Bai.
After that, Xue Bai also came on horseback alone.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
"But I can always see you in my mind." Li Chu said, "Someone wants to usurp my family property. I can't ignore it, can I?"
"The Tang Dynasty has never been your family business alone." Xue Bai said, "Otherwise, why would so many people sacrifice their lives one after another?"
Li Chu narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling inexplicably angry because of these words.
On the contrary, Xue Bai was very calm. In his mind, the Tang Dynasty had never belonged to the Li family. It would still belong to everyone on this land after a thousand years.
Everything he did was for this reason. He never wanted to protect the community and temple for the Li family, so how could he talk about "usurping"?
Anger flashed across Li Chu's eyes. He controlled his emotions and said: "The country is in trouble now and the people are suffering. Is this what you call sacrifice?"
"My sacrifice is to give you a chance."
"Don't forget, there are strong soldiers and generals in Jingzhou City. It will not be easy for you to conquer the city..."
Xue Bai said: "His Majesty sent envoys to recruit Guo Ziyi, and he sent people to Chang'an to give a reply."
Li Chu couldn't hide his surprise for a moment. He couldn't help but tighten his hand on the reins and said, "You deceived me?"
"You know whether he has obeyed Li Heng's edict or not."
"I know it wasn't you who robbed the messenger he sent." Li Chu said: "But when his army arrives, can you still rob it?"
This is a very smart man. Xue Bai indeed deceived him, and it seems that he was found out at this time.
But Xue Bai was calm and calm, and said thoughtfully: "Guo Ziyi attaches great importance to the overall situation and is willing to surrender. Moreover, he and Li Mi have the same view. They believe that Li Heng should commit suicide and abdicate."
"Fake." Li Chu didn't believe it and wanted to turn around and leave.
"Guo Ziyi made two requests." Xue Bai said, "First, he doesn't want me to compete for the throne; second, he asks your majesty to make you a prince."
Li Chu stopped moving, his eyes looking thoughtful.
If Li Heng fails in the fight for the throne and is not deposed as a commoner, he will only have a son who can be King Si Zhong in the future. But now, let Li Cong make him a prince. Although it has no actual effect, it is a signal to the world.
He is meritorious.
When Fengxiang of Xijing fell, Ye Hu was defeated, Pugu Huai'en defected, and Li Mi and Guo Ziyi defected one after another, it was not a bad choice to still have such conditions.
If Li Chu helps Li Heng successfully win the throne, the world will belong to him in the future. But under the huge pressure at this time, a prince in name only can stir up ripples in his heart, which can be said to be a trick of fate.
Xue Baiwei said reluctantly: "Your Majesty only agreed to this for the sake of Guo Ziyi, and it also showed his tolerance and benevolence. If you and your son do not surrender, your Majesty will do your best to show your kindness, and I will attack the city."
There was no emotion on Li Chu's face. He thought for a while and then said with a calm expression: "I will report back to Your Majesty."
"Don't worry, His Majesty can first issue an edict to pardon your crimes, and then you can leave the city and surrender."
Xue Bai knew that a few words were enough to resolve the differences of interest between Li Heng and his son, so he said no more.
The two of them each took a few steps back and then turned back to each other.
~~
Li Heng was pacing back and forth anxiously. Finally, when Li Chu returned to the city, he quickly asked: "How?"
He actually objected to Li Chu going out of the city to meet Xue Bai, but Li Chu said that he could find out whether Xue Bai was real or not.
At this time, Li Chu did not mention Xue Bai's promise, but frowned and said slowly: "From what I saw, I'm afraid... Guo Ziyi will not obey the imperial edict."
"Why?"
Li Chu finally slowly raised his lowered head, looked into Li Heng's eyes, and said, "Master, please surrender."
"No!"
Li Heng was immediately furious. He picked up Li Chu by his collar and shouted, "Do you know how deep my hatred is between Xue Ni and me?! You want me to be a prisoner?!"
"Father, don't worry, Xue Ni will never dare to publicly avenge himself." Li Chu said: "Now the whole world is watching. Father can only gain reputation by thinking about the common people of the country."
Li Heng seemed not to recognize this son. His eyes widened and he shook his head. The fear of being buried alive emerged again.
Li Chu couldn't help but his eyes turned red, and he knelt down on the ground, crying every word: "Father, please believe that I will die if I don't surrender now. Only by returning to Chang'an can I have a chance of survival!"