Although Li Xian's hatred for Dugu Ruoxue has reached an extremely deep level, he cannot be impatient about getting rid of Dugu Ruoxue, so Li Xian handed the matter to Shangguan Wan'er and Wei Tuan'er through secret channels.
, and temporarily shifted his gaze.
Because for the current Tang Dynasty, the biggest problem is still the chaos of the northern war situation. Through Li Xian's efforts, the sea communication lines have been re-opened, and the Tang Dynasty has regained firm control of the sea. Even the prince of Dahairen
Unifying the Japanese country and sending three times the original naval force would definitely not be a match for the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in this case, the war situation gradually developed in a direction that was beneficial to the Tang Dynasty.
However, such a good battle situation was abruptly ruined by one person, and this legendary figure who ruined such a good fighter was the general who was carefully selected by Empress Wu to conquer the Khitan, Empress Wu's nephew Wu Yizong.
It turned out that it took Wu Yizong more than two months to lead the army and finally arrived in Zhaozhou where the Khitan was in rebellion. However, more than a month had passed, but there had never been any battle against the thieves, and there was not even preparation. Where he was
The only thing he did was kill innocent people indiscriminately.
He imprisoned all the soldiers and civilians who had been oppressed by the Khitan and had no choice but to surrender, and finally defected to the Tang Dynasty, and concentrated on killing and gutting them. That is to say, he cut open the abdomens of the killed and took out their guts. As a result,
There was blood in front of him, but Wu Yizong was talking and laughing calmly.
The people were deeply resentful of Wu Yizong's actions and called him "Two Hes" together with He Axiao, the Khitan pioneer who killed innocent people in Jizhou, and said: "Only these two Hes killed the most people."
However, Wu Yizong was still dissatisfied with this and even wrote a letter to Empress Wu, demanding that all Hebei people who were "thieves" be exterminated.
However, when such a general encountered the Khitan enemy, he had no courage at all and simply fled upon hearing the news. Nearly two months after he arrived in Zhaozhou, one day he suddenly received information that thousands of Khitan cavalry were
At the end of the day, the frightened Wu Yizong immediately led his army to escape without verifying the news. The army of more than 100,000 was chased and beaten by thousands of Khitan people, and countless grain, grass and equipment were lost along the way.
After the news of Wu Yizong's defeat came, the whole court was shocked. Xue Rengui, the minister of the Ministry of War and a third-rank disciple of Tong Zhongshu, immediately wrote to the emperor, impeaching Wu Yizong for corrupting military discipline and causing the good situation that was finally won to be wiped out in an instant. He strongly demanded that
Punish Wu Yizong severely and replace him with a capable general.
At the same time, Guo Yuanzhen, the censor in the palace, Du Shenyan, the censor in the palace, Lu Zhaolin, the secretary in the palace, and others wrote letters one after another, demanding that Wu Yizong be replaced and severely punished, and that talented people be selected to conquer Khitan.
At this time, a poem quietly circulated among the people. The content of the poem is: "The long bow is short of the arrow, and the Shu horse is cheating on the steps. I went seven hundred miles away from the thief, and I fought alone at the Kuma Wall. Suddenly I met the thief, and I rode a pig to the south."
"
This poem was originally written by Zhang Yuanyi, a doctor named Zuo Si, more than ten years later. The name of the poem was "Mocking Wu Yizong". However, Zhang Yuanyi was not well-known at this time, so this poem was
Li Xian used it to mock Wu Yizong. The first two sentences mainly mocked Wu Yizong for being too short. Even with a long bow, he could only shoot short arrows. Even if he was riding the shortest Shu horse, he still had to stand on the steps to go up.
, the middle two sentences are mocking him for being deceitful, being seven hundred miles away from the enemy, but fighting against himself around the city wall, and the last two sentences are mocking him for fleeing in the face of the wind.
After Li Xian wrote this poem, he spread it through various channels, and it soon became known to everyone.
Although Empress Wu wanted to protect it, at this time Wu Yizong's reputation was already bad and aroused public outrage. Not to mention the members of the East Palace Party and most of the centrists, even some people in the Hou Party, such as Liu Jingxian, Fan Lubing and others, demanded that Wu Yizong be replaced.
Yizong, in order to reorganize the corrupt situation in the north and stabilize the northern Xinjiang, under this situation, Empress Wu finally decided not to cover up, recalled Wu Yizong to Luoyang, severely reprimanded him, cut off his military power, and demoted him to the left
At the same time, the captain of the prison gate decided to discuss the candidates for the new generals when he went to court the next day.
"All the ministers already know that due to the overwhelming force of the Khitan thieves and the defeat of Wu Yizong, the situation in the north has deteriorated again and the country is in danger. I wonder who can serve as a general and serve the country?" After all, the incompetent person is his own who will be defeated.
Nephew, so Empress Wu’s face was very ugly and she said with a gloomy expression.
However, Zhongshu ordered Xue Yuanchao to step forward and said slowly: "Empress of Heaven, please allow me to report that the Khitan thieves are so rampant now that they have brought the war to Jizhou. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and devastated by the war.
There are countless people who have done this, and if we look into it, it is all because His Highness the Crown Prince insisted on starting a war against Silla. If not, how could the Khitan dare to talk about betrayal? Hey, I really don’t know if His Highness the Crown Prince can shoulder this responsibility?"
It turns out that Xue Yuanchao was kicked out of the court because of Li Xian's words. It can be said that he lost his image. He naturally harbored a grudge against Li Xian. Now that he saw that the situation in the north was difficult to deal with, he naturally wanted to take the opportunity to blame Li Xian. On the one hand,
To avenge the original blow, on the other hand, he was also adhering to Empress Wu's will and taking the opportunity to show his offence.
However, there are many righteous people in the court. Naturally, no one will let Xue Yuanchao be so arrogant. Du Shenyan, the censor of the imperial court, sneered: "Xue Xiang's words are really unreasonable. The small country of Silla actually
If you dare to offend the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, the lesson is inevitable. We, the Tang Dynasty, are adept at martial arts. At that time, Emperor Taizong dared to drive back hundreds of thousands of Turkic troops with only more than 20 cavalry. What's more, now our dynasty's economy is prosperous and the people are rich.
, the heyday has appeared, how can you show weakness to a small country? Now that the north has been defeated, Prime Minister Xue does not pursue the crime of General Wu Yizong, who rides a pig, but blames His Highness the Crown Prince. Is this your act of loyalty to the country, Prime Minister Xue? "
"General riding a pig? What's going on?" Gaozong's current physical condition is deteriorating. He was originally going to go to court today, but not long after he went to court, he saw that the courtiers began to worry about war.
They were arguing with each other, and they were very irritable. But at this moment, they suddenly heard Du Shenyan say "General riding a pig", and he suddenly became interested and asked with a smile.
But Du Shenyan bowed and explained: "Reporting to your Majesty, this is the case. Wu Yizong was originally ordered to fight in the north. After arriving in Zhaozhou, he did not see a battle for more than a month and made no preparations. He specialized in massacring the people. Later, he was shocked to hear that the Khitan
The invaders fled in panic and lost hundreds of miles of Hebei Province. Later, people in the community learned about this incident and were very angry. So they wrote poems to mock it. Among them was the sentence "Suddenly encountered a thief, riding a pig to the south",
Therefore, Wu Yizong was called General Riding a Pig."
"Oh? What's the matter with riding a pig? Could it be that Wu Yizong really rode a pig to escape? Yizong had a horse, so why did he ride a pig?" Gaozong looked puzzled and humbly asked for advice. (To be continued.)