At the bottom of the well, the sun has not returned yet, and the rain is rustling and the rain is drying the water.
Who is more like Mr. Su? He is not willing to spend time alone.
——"Winter Solstice Visiting Jixiang Temple Alone" Su Shi
…
Returning to the palace, Princess Qingluan threw herself on the embroidered bed and burst into tears. For three consecutive days, she locked herself in the boudoir.
Asking what love is in the world can make one's heart feel like a knife piercing it, and the heart and intestines are torn apart...
The personal maid Yuan Xiaoer, Little Lantern advised: "Your Highness, your health is important, don't feel sorry for this fool. With your peerless appearance and noble status, Your Highness, I admire your talent like a crucian carp crossing the river..."
This consolation did not have any effect. Princess Qingluan never thought about food or food and could not afford to fall ill...
…
Bai Fu's mood was not much better than that of Princess Qingluan. He was walking alone on the cold long street aimlessly.
For several days, Bai Fukui sat under the tree in the courtyard, neither drinking nor eating. Others knew that Bai Fukuu had something on his mind, so they did not dare to disturb him.
On the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month, Tang Kui ran over in a panic with a dove letter in his hand. After calming down, he said: "This morning, General Siye's arrow sore burst open and he was bleeding. Medical treatment was ineffective and he passed away..."
Bai Fu slowly opened his eyes, and a line of hot tears flowed down his cheeks silently...
…
The news of Li Siye's death from serious injuries reached Chang'an, and Suzong was shocked and regretful. Suzong issued an edict to commend Li Siye's achievements during his lifetime, gave him the posthumous title of Zhongyong, named him the Prince of Wuwei County, and sent a hearse to escort his body back to his post and his cemetery.
Arrange for ten households to clean and pay homage all year round.
On the day of the burial, Su Zong sent imperial eunuchs to express condolences, and important ministers from the court came in droves to pay their respects to this famous general of the Tang Dynasty who was powerful in the Western Regions, brave and good at fighting, loyal and caring for the country.
…
The fall of a generation of generals seems to herald some kind of sign.
From October of the first year of Qianyuan to February of the following year, hundreds of thousands of troops led by the nine Jiedu envoys of the Tang Dynasty surrounded Yecheng, with two-story fortifications and three trenches, which were airtight and airtight.
The Tang army attacked day and night, which took half a year, but achieved nothing. They just couldn't conquer Yecheng, a small place.
The Tang army was unable to attack for a long time, so they had to adopt a water attack strategy, building a dam on the upper reaches of the Zhang River flowing through the north of Yecheng, and pouring the Zhang River into the city.
The water from wells and springs in Yecheng overflowed from the wells, turning the country into a water town. The Yan army and the people of Yecheng could only build wooden houses on the water to live.
As the city was besieged for a long time, the food in the city gradually ran out, and the people in the city began to dig for rats. The price of rat meat immediately skyrocketed, and a rat was sold for 4,000 yuan.
Later, when not even a mouse was found in the city, people dug into the soil on the wall, dug out the grain husks that had been mixed in when the wall was built, washed the mud with water, and dug out the unchewed grains from horse manure.
Fiber, used to feed horses.
Many Yan soldiers in the city wanted to surrender to the Tang army, but there were floods everywhere outside the city, trapping them and making it impossible for them to get out of the city.
The army of hundreds of thousands had no legitimate commander, and the nine military governors acted independently, moving forward and retreating with no one making the final decision.
The officers and soldiers of the Tang Army thought that the capture of Ye City was just around the corner, but they did not expect that after half a year, they still could not capture Ye City.
As the siege lasted for a long time, the three armies were exhausted, disoriented and scattered.
At the end of February of the second year of Qianyuan, Shi Siming finally took action.
Shi Siming was like the wolf king on the grassland. He was neither impatient nor impatient. He hid in the dark and observed carefully, waiting for the fighter planes to massacre the Tang army. He was reluctant to rescue Yecheng because he wanted to find out the weakness of the Tang army and find a way to defeat the Tang army.
Sure enough, after half a year of careful observation, Shi Siming discovered that the Tang army had made a fatal mistake-it was leaderless.
Although the Tang army was powerful and numerous, they had inconsistent orders and no basis for advance or retreat. Although the nine military governors were considered to have great military achievements, they were controlled by a stupid and conceited eunuch with no battlefield experience.
How can a stupid sheep lead a group of fierce tigers to be undefeated?
"No wonder Brother Lushan looked down on Prince Li Heng back then. This guy was lucky enough to become the emperor, but he was also a pustule, and he made such a stupid move! God help me!"
Shi Siming laughed heartily.
Shi Siming personally led the army from Weizhou and headed straight for Yecheng. He ordered the generals to camp fifty miles away from Yecheng. Each camp was distributed 300 war drums and beat them day and night to bluff and threaten the Tang army.
He also ordered each battalion to select 500 elite cavalry, equipped with strong horses, and go to the vicinity of the Tang army's camp every day to harass and plunder. When the Tang army attacked, they scattered and fled, each returning to their base camp.
If the Tang army was on guard during the day, the rebels would make sneak attacks at night; if the Tang army was on guard at night, they would attack during the day. In short, when the enemy was tired, we were harassed, and when the enemy advanced, we retreated, which made the Tang army nervous, exhausted, and miserable.
The rebels looted like the wind, coming and going without a trace. Soldiers, cattle, horses, or baggage of the Tang army were plundered every day. Many Tang army cooks were shot dead by rebel scouts with crossbows just when they went out to cut firewood and mow grass.
In addition to harassing the Tang army day and night, Shi Siming also had a fatal move - cutting off their food routes.
Shi Siming was worthy of being a Yan general who had experienced hundreds of battles. He was wily and resourceful. After several observations, he finally found the weakness of the Tang army - food and grass.
Shi Siming took stock of the total strength of the Tang army. In the end, the number of Tang troops who came to Yecheng to assemble was as many as 600,000.
Although the strength of the Tang army was several times that of the rebels, the stupid and conceited eunuch Yu Chaoen refused to adopt Li Guangbi's suggestion - he ordered Li Guangbi's Hedong Army and Guo Ziyi's Shuofang Army to encircle Weizhou, where Shi Siming's main force was, and launched a thunderous attack on the rebels.
Attack, fight quickly.
Yu Chaoen's wishful thinking was: after all the Tang troops to reinforce Yecheng were assembled, he would first destroy the Yan troops in Yecheng, and then crush Shi Siming's reinforcements.
Everything has an advantage and a disadvantage.
An army of 600,000 people eats horses and eats horses, and consumes huge amounts of food and grass every day. Once there is a shortage of food, it will definitely be in chaos and self-defeating.
The rebellion has not been suppressed, the world is famine, and farming has not yet resumed in the Central Plains, so it is impossible to fight the enemy with food.
The Li Tang court could only mobilize grain from various roads and mobilize all the strength of the country to attack Yecheng. The civilians who transported grain and wages came from Jianghuai in the south and Bingfen (today's Shanxi) in the west. There were a large number of convoys and fleets arriving every day.
Deliver food to the Tang army camp.
Shi Siming sent multiple scouts to scout the Tang army's grain transportation routes.
After the route was determined, Shi Siming ordered the Yan army scouts to disguise themselves as Tang troops, steal the Tang army's orders, and intercept the Tang army's grain transport team. He became furious with the civilians who were transporting grain and wages. In the name of slow speed and delay, he raised his sword and killed the people responsible for escorting the grain.
The officers, soldiers and civilians all beheaded and killed, and then the food was burned to the ground.
When the number of killings and plunders increased, the news spread, and the people were shocked and frightened. No one within a hundred miles was willing to risk their lives to deliver food.
When encountering the main force of the Tang army escorting grain-carrying ships or vehicles, Yan army scouts sneaked into the Tang army and secretly set fire to them.
The movements of the Yan army's scouts were erratic, coming and going like the wind. In an instant they gathered into a strong force, and in an instant they fled in all directions without a trace.
The Tang army was troubled by these elusive rebel scouts who came and went without a trace, but they were at a loss what to do. Because they were all wearing Tang army uniforms, no one could identify them even if they walked swaggering in front of the Tang army.
After Shi Siming's method of robbing grain was implemented, the Tang army lost food and grass, and its morale was greatly weakened. Deserters fled the camp every day.
Shi Siming realized that the moment of decisive battle had arrived!