In December 936, more than ten days had passed since the last emperor Li Congke burned himself in Xuanwu Tower.
The entire city of Luoyang was almost in ruins, and the imperial palace Ziwei Palace also burst into flames as the last emperor's family set themselves on fire.
Yang Guangyuan, An Shenxin, An Shenqi and other troops who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty entered Luoyang at the end of November under the leadership of Shi Jingtang's confidant Liu Zhiyuan, the commander of the Hedong Horse Infantry Army.
In other words, they completely destroyed Luoyang, the only city that still had a little bit of life left.
Nearly half of the imperial palace Ziwei Palace was burned down, and of the more than 100,000 residents in the city who did not escape in time, at most 20-30% were left.
Almost all the middle and lower-level officials in the court were killed, and the important officials of the court could only be spared by supplying the rebels with wine, meat, gold, silver, and women.
By this time, almost all the superficial influence of the Tang Dynasty on this land had disappeared.
This is of course not because the Later Tang Dynasty was also the Tang Dynasty, but after Chang'an was completely destroyed, Luoyang City, the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, was already the last afterglow of the empire.
Even though it is very dilapidated, it is still the last bit of splendor of the empire that has gone away. Until now, it has finally disappeared.
Luo Yuer's arm was wrapped in white cloth, and blood had soaked half of his arm.
Everyone in the posthouse was injured. Even Pei Yuan's sword was broken in the battle. Six people, including Pei Yuan's servant, had been killed in the battle.
As the number of rebels in Luoyang City increased, not only fierce fighting broke out among them, but also the harassment of the posthouse gradually increased.
In particular, Yang Guangyuan's tooth soldiers are the most difficult to deal with. It's not that they are powerful, but that Yang Guangyuan is the culprit who betrayed Zhang Jingda. He has done such a thing, so naturally he has no shame to restrain his subordinates.
Therefore, the Ya soldiers under An Shenxin still barely looked like warriors, while the Ya soldiers under Yang Guangyuan had completely become thieves.
However, their fighting power was not particularly strong. At least one or two hundred people came intermittently. But in the end, not only did they fail to attack the post house, more than twenty of them were killed by Luo Yu'er and others.
Pei Yuan stretched out his hand towards Luo Yu'er and motioned Luo Yu'er to lend him the horizontal sword on her waist. Pei Yuan's own had been broken and he had no sword left.
Luo Yu'er looked at Pei Yuan strangely, and she still admired this scholar in her heart. She howled and fought hard, but he didn't belong to professional warriors like them at all.
"Where are you going? Now is probably not the time. Let's wait for a few more days and then go out and have a look!"
Seeing Pei Yuan holding the horizontal knife to his waist as if he was about to go out, Luo Yu'er quickly spoke to stop him.
Pei Yuan neatly adjusted his robe and wiped the muddy areas carefully.
"Luo Erlang, listen, the sounds of crying outside have obviously decreased a lot these days, and Yang Guangyuan's thieves haven't come for a long time.
It has been fourteen days since the rebels entered the city. I estimate that Shi Hedong is about to enter the city. We must take this opportunity to go out and find some food. If we continue to be so hungry, everyone will starve to death."
The biggest problem that Pei Yuan and the others are facing now is that they don't have much food left. If they don't go out and think of a way, they may not be able to hold on before anyone comes to attack.
Pei Yuan was in Luoyang City, and there were a few family friends he didn't know very well, and he was going to try his luck.
Luo Yu'er wiped her long hair, and was about to say that he would accompany Pei Yuan, when waves of cheers suddenly broke out from the north of the city, and Pei Yuan's face lit up.
"It seems that Shi Hedong has entered the city, leaving five people to guard here. Luo Erlang, you come with me to take a look. We have to beg for some food from this slave."
....
In the north of Luoyang City, at Anximen, Shi Jingtang, wearing a vermilion round-necked robe, arrived in Luoyang on a carriage, escorted by his confidant Sang Weihan, surrendered general Yang Guangyuan, adopted son Shi Chonggui, and more than ten thousand Hedong Army and ten thousand Khitan soldiers.
Shi Jingtang had long eyebrows and deep eyes, a wide mouth and a foreign appearance. His father's name was Zeng Naoji, and he didn't even have a formal name.
Moreover, he was most likely a Sogdian from the Stone Kingdom, not even a Shatuo, a first-class barbarian, and his background was quite low.
He was originally the son-in-law of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan of the later Tang Dynasty. He saved the lives of Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu and Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan of Tang Dynasty several times.
After seeing Li Siyuan continue to kill all the descendants of his adoptive father Li Keyong, Li Congke also killed almost all the descendants of his adoptive father Li Siyuan.
Now it's finally Shi Jingtang's turn to sit on this hot-butt-burning position of emperor.
Outside Anxi Gate, the remaining officials of the Later Tang Dynasty and the surviving Luoyang people were all found by the rebels.
Even the only surviving son of Mingzong Li Siyuan of the later Tang Dynasty, the only five-year-old King Xu Li Congyi and his adoptive mother Wang Shufei, were found out from hiding in the Cuju venue.
Perhaps the psychological pressure caused by the title of Emperor ceding the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun was too great, or the stimulation of Luoyang, which was like a dead city and full of corpses, or perhaps the sense of unreality was too strong.
Shi Jingtang actually held the hand of five-year-old Li Congyi outside Anxi Gate and burst into tears.
Shi Jingtang even said that he was really unwilling to rebel and was forced by Li Congke, and expressed his willingness to return the throne to the descendants of his father-in-law Li Siyuan.
When Sang Weihan, who was quite proud of being around Shi Jingtang, heard this, he was almost frightened to death on the spot.
This is not an ancient society with three concessions and three concessions. Now is the era when the gun is the grass-headed king. The speaker is unintentional and the listener is intentional. If someone with an intention really takes it seriously, it will be troublesome.
Moreover, Shi Jingtang had already proclaimed himself emperor outside Taiyuan, so it would be a bit redundant to do this at this time.
Just when Sang Weihan was about to come out and interrupt Shi Jingtang, a scholar wearing a bloodstained and muddy robe came out and shouted loudly.
"King Xu is young, how can he master the divine weapon? And how can one country have two masters? The world is in chaos now, and without an older king, there may be another change!"
The scholar is Pei Yuan. Although he feels extremely disgusted, he still wants to come out to fight for the interests of himself and Zhang Zhao at this moment.
Moreover, he could also see why Shi Jingtang did such a thing. He had done too many dirty things, so he wanted to save some reputation.
Sang Weihan raised his eyebrows. He didn't have time to identify the scholar who spoke, so he quickly followed the words and ran to Shi Jingtang's side to persuade him.
"Does the saint want to let down the soldiers of the three armies? Take pity on King Xu, grant him more food, and give him more treasures. Now it is better to enter Ziwei Palace as soon as possible!"
Shi Jingtang also came back to his senses at this time. Especially Sang Weihan's words about not letting down the soldiers of the three armies immediately made Shi Jingtang's heart skip a beat, his spine trembled, and the position under his buttocks was not stable at all. It was not a show.
time.
Thinking of this, Shi Jingtang picked up King Xu Li Congyi who was kneeling on the ground and looked at Pei Yuan who spoke first.
"Where is your post? You can go to Ziwei Palace together."
Naturally, Shi Jingtang considered the good-tempered Pei Yuan to be a high-ranking member of the imperial court, because Shi Jingtang, who deliberately allowed the rebels to sack Luoyang City, knew very well that he who was not a powerful family or official would never survive the blades of these rebels.
.
Pei Yuan knew that the time had come. He raised his hands and bowed directly to the ground.
"The saint, Li Gongba, the former governor of Hexi Province in Liangzhou, unfortunately died of illness after Wen Qian stayed there. The post of governor of Hexi Province was vacant. To the east of Liangzhou, the barbarians were not peaceful, and the scholars and people were uneasy.
After the temporary stay of the Hexi Festival, Duke Zhang appeased the loyal and obedient, and conquered the unruly ministers, so that all the tribes were willing to return. Therefore, he sent special servants to the court to request the Hexi Festival to hold the Jingjie Festival, and to return the five states of Lianglan, Hekuo, and Shan to the country."
Sure enough, Pei Yuan's bet was right. Shi Jingtang raised his brows and couldn't help showing a look of joy on his face.
In fact, what Shi Jingtang was most afraid of at this moment was that others would use the fact that he recognized Khitan Yelv Deguang as his father to ridicule him and make trouble with him.
After being out of danger, I may have felt that my face was dull, so I did this in Anximen.
Now that Pei Yuan has come out, Shi Jingtang has not yet entered Ziwei Palace, but there are people from Hexi, Lianglan, Hekuo and Shanzhou coming and returning. Doesn't it seem that Shi Jingtang also has some luck?
It was like putting a nipple patch on his bare buttocks body, which at least covered it up a bit.
"Hexi has produced loyal and righteous people!" Shi Jingtang said with emotion. I don't know how he could say these two words of loyalty and righteousness.
"Since we are envoys from Hexi who care about the imperial court, let's enter Ziwei Palace together first!"
"The foreign minister obeys the order!" Pei Yuan's face was filled with joy, knowing that the matter was almost half done.
His appetite is really not small. The five states he mentioned just now, except Liangzhou, Lanzhou, Hezhou, Kuozhou and Shanzhou are all the territories of the former Longyou Jiedu Envoy.
Even though Pei Yuan was so open-minded, Shi Jingtang didn't feel angry at all, and continued to invite him to Ziwei Palace, which was a sign that they wanted to talk.
Moreover, Pei Yuan did not want Shi Jingtang to admit that these five states were returned to Liangzhou, because even in name only, the Central Plains court would not agree.
Liangzhou plus the four prefectures of Lanhe, Kuo, and Shanzhou, this is the super-large Jiedu envoy of Longyou in Hexi Province.
Don't underestimate the name thing. In this era of poor communication, it is very useful. If Zhang Zhao has a name in hand, he can definitely get twice the result with half the effort.
The importance of Longyou in Hexi is also unquestionable. During the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the central imperial army, there were also generals sent from Hedong and Hexi.
By the Five Dynasties, almost all those who entered Luoyang and became emperors started their careers in Taiyuan, Hedong, while Hexi was in chaos and was regarded as an outsider.
But this does not mean that the Central Plains court is insensitive to this place. It is precisely because Hexi is in chaos that they are relieved.
Otherwise, one Hedong is troublesome enough, but if you add a large Hexi, it will be difficult to survive?
Therefore, Pei Yuan opened his mouth just to repay the money, not to mention that Zhang Zhao's strategy was to take Lingzhou in Shuofang first.
Even if you want to take over the territory of Lanzhou and other Longyou Jiedu envoys, you must keep a low profile as much as possible, otherwise you will definitely be interfered by the Central Plains dynasty.
If nothing else, Hexi cannot afford to block trade routes or impose heavy taxes on Hexi merchants.
Sang Weihan gave Pei Yuan a meaningful look. In the current imperial court, how could Hexi Longyou be suddenly unified in the eyes of people like Sang Weihan?
There is no way that this self-proclaimed Empress Zhang Liu can win over Lianglanhe and other five states!
"Huh!" Sang Weihan snorted coldly. This envoy from Hexi must be thinking of taking advantage of the newly appointed lion in the imperial court to open his mouth.
Pei Yuan also glanced at Sang Weihan very covertly, and he knew that this man was Shi Jingtang's mastermind.
Sang Weihan's reaction was what he had expected. Pei Yuan wanted to make them think that he was talking about the lion's mouth.
In this way, when Zhang Zhao annexes Lanhe Prefecture and other four prefectures in the future, it will not be so eye-catching!