A son of a good family in the Tenth County of Mengdong, his blood was made into Chen Taoze's water.
There was no sound of fighting in the wilderness, and 40,000 rebels died on the same day.
The barbarians returned and washed their arrows with blood, and still sang barbarian songs to drink in the city.
Everyone turned around and cried to the north, watching day and night for the arrival of the army.
——"Sorrowful Chen Tao" Du Fu
…
The soldiers on both sides were only focused on escaping for their lives. There were discarded armors, weapons and supplies everywhere in the mountains and plains.
The Tang army suffered huge losses, with only 3,000 of the 10,000 horses remaining and 100,000 pieces of armor and weapons abandoned.
The 600,000-strong army was instantly wiped out!
When the news of the defeat of the Tang army reached Luoyang, the officials and people were frightened and panicked. They helped the old and the young and rushed to flee and took refuge in nearby mountains.
Cui Yuan stayed behind in Tokyo, and officials such as Yin Suzhen in Henan fled further. Without stopping, they fled hundreds of miles away to Xiangzhou (now XY City, Hubei Province), Dengzhou (now Dengzhou City, Henan Province) and other places.
Among the nine military governors, only Shuofang's governor Guo Ziyi was relatively calm. Guo Ziyi was worried that after Shi Siming stabilized his position, he would take advantage of the situation and attack Luoyang southward, so he led his troops to retreat to Heyang (now Mengzhou City, Henan Province) and cut off the Heyang Bridge.
To ensure that Luoyang is safe.
Among the other eight military envoys, only Li Guangbi and Wang Sili were able to assemble their troops, straighten military discipline, and maintain order during the retreat. They neither harassed the place nor deserted. They maintained their strength and retreated safely.
.
The remaining soldiers and horses, the army's organizational structure was disrupted, and military discipline was gone, just like horse thieves and bandits. Wherever the rebels passed, winds and clouds swept through, burning, killing and looting. The local officials had neither the strength nor the courage to stop them. They watched helplessly.
The rebels attacked the prefectures and counties and brought chaos to the people. The prefectures and counties along the way experienced serious riots for more than ten days. It was not until hundreds of thousands of rebels passed through that they finally subsided and calmed down.
Shuofang Jiedu made Guo Ziyi retreat to Heyang (today's Mengzhou City, Henan Province), intending to defend the city, but the soldiers were frightened and had no intention of holding on, so they fled to Quemen (today's Xitiemen Town, Xin'an County, Henan Province). Generals arrived one after another, and the soldiers
Thousands of people gathered.
Seeing that the morale of the army was unstable, Guo Ziyi was worried that his soldiers would mutiny, so he planned to abandon Luoyang, retreat to Puzhou (today's Yongji City, Shanxi Province), and stick to Shaanzhou (today's SMX City, Henan Province).
Zhang Yongji, the Marquis of Du Yu, objected, saying: "There is famine in Puzhou and Shaanxi Province, and the soldiers have nothing to eat, which makes them more likely to mutiny.
It is better to hold on to Heyang! If the rebels dare to invade, we will work together to resist and drive them back."
Zhang Yongji's words made sense, and Guo Ziyi readily accepted them, and sent Han Youxu, a Lingwu man from Duyuyi, to lead 500 cavalrymen back to Heyang. Zhang Yongji, the lord of Duyu, led 5,000 infantrymen to follow as reinforcements.
As expected by Guo Ziyi, rebels came one after another. Shi Siming's marching Sima Zhou Zhi led his light cavalry to attack for a long distance, intending to capture Heyang.
Zhang Yongji arrived in time and secured the city. The rebel Zhou Zhi came lightly armed with no siege equipment. He found that Heyang was heavily fortified and could not be captured, so he had to retreat.
Seeing that the rebels had left, Zhang Yongji did not dare to be careless at all, and urged his soldiers to build a castle in the north and south of Heyang for defense. They would become horns with Heyang for joint defense.
Li Siye's deputy general at that time, Duan Xiushi, the governor of Huaizhou, escorted the generals' families and public and private properties, crossed the Yellow River from Yezhu (now the North Yellow River ferry in Mengjin County, Henan Province) to the south, and settled on the south bank of Heqing (now south of Jiyuan City, Henan Province) to wait for the court's further
instruct.
Li Feiyuanli, the military envoy of the Zhenxi Army, arrived shortly afterwards, met with Duan Xiushi, and set up camp on the south bank of the Heqing River.
…
The battle of Yecheng, which was thought to be a sure win, ended sadly with the rout of 600,000 Tang troops.
After the dust settled, the nine military governors went to court one after another, requesting punishment. Li Heng no longer pursued any further investigation, but only deprived Zhao Guogong, Cui Yuan was left in Luoyang to retain his official rank and title, demoted Henan Yin Su Zhen to the position of Chief Historian of Prince Ji's Palace, and deprived Su Zhen of Yin Qingguang.
Official rank of Doctor Lu.
On March 18, Duke Guchu of Huihe, Di De and other fifteen people fled from Xiangzhou back to Chang'an. Emperor Suzong held a banquet in the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace to appease the generals and rewarded them respectively according to their rank. On March 24,
Gu Chui and others said goodbye and returned to the camp.
On March 25, Li Heng appointed Li Fei Yuanli as the governor of Huaizhou, temporarily acting as the military governor of Zhenxi and Beiting. Li Fei Yuanli appointed Duan Xiushi as the military governor.
…
In the battle of Yecheng, the Yan army only dispatched 50,000 elite troops, most of which were cavalry. The baggage was small, and the losses were naturally small.
The army led by Shi Siming was defeated and fled northward, fleeing to Shahe (now Beishahe City, Shahe City, Hebei Province). When he learned that the Tang army was defeated and headed south, he stopped.
At that time, after Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi gathered the fleeing troops, they suggested that the eunuch Yu Chaoen, who was watching the army, should gather the Tang army, return the troops to the camp, hold on to the camp, and continue to besiege Yecheng. If so, Shi Siming would not dare to go south.
Unfortunately, Yu Chaoen was so frightened that he refused to return to Yecheng. He even issued an imperial edict and ordered the troops to return to their respective stations.
The governors such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi did not dare to resist the order and could only leave in anger.
After confirming the news that the Tang army had escaped, Shi Siming gathered his troops and returned to Yecheng, camping in the south of the city.
Shi Siming neither went to the city to see An Qingxu nor pursued the Tang army south. Instead, he held banquets for the soldiers in the camp every day to reward the three armies to see how An Qingxu would react.
After the siege of Yecheng was lifted, An Qingxu ordered his people to collect 670,000 to 70,000 shi of grain abandoned by the Tang army when they fled into the city, then closed the city gate tightly and left Shi Siming in the cold.
Shi Siming's Fan Yang army had strong soldiers and horses, and was very powerful. This time it "defeated" the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop. Most of the puppet Yan officials in Ye City had already made up their minds and wanted to change their gates and join the Ming Dynasty.
An Qingxu's move made the puppet Yan officials in Ye City very dissatisfied. Gao Shang, Zhang Tongru and others reported to An Qingxu: "The king of Shi came from afar to lift the siege of Ye City. The officials should go out of the city to welcome him and should not avoid it.
.”
At this point, An Qingxu had no choice but to agree to Gao and Zhang's request.
After Shi Siming met Gao Shang and Zhang Tongru, he gave generous gifts and made some small plans, and he won the hearts of the fake Yan officials.
After three days, there was still no movement from An Qingxu. Shi Siming secretly met with An Taiqing, An Qingxu's confidant, and ordered him to find a way to lure An Qingxu out of the city.
After An Taiqing returned to the city, all the civil and military officials of the puppet Yan Manchu Dynasty created public opinion and condemned An Qingxu. Under the hard and soft measures of the officials, An Qingxu was in dire straits and had to express his willingness to give up the throne and surrender to Shi Siming.
Become a minister.
Shi Siming saw that this letter was fraudulent, and wrote a letter to comfort An Qingxu: "I would like to serve as a country of brothers and serve as a barrier for support. Standing together as a tripartite, we are just like common people. I dare not accept the gift from the north." He expressed that he did not dare to accept it.
If the emperor takes the throne, the two sides can form allies and stand as a tripartite.
An Qingxu was very happy and asked to form a bloody alliance with Shi Siming, and Shi Siming agreed. On the day of the alliance, Qingxu only led 300 soldiers and entered Fan Yang's camp.
Shi Siming finally turned his back, showed a ferocious face, and angrily said: "It is useless to abandon the two capitals! You are the son of a man, and you kill your father to seize his throne. Heaven and earth will not tolerate it! I am begging for thieves for the Supreme Emperor, how can I accept your flattery?"
"
On that day, Shi Siming ordered his soldiers to pull An Qingxu out of the camp, and behead all his four brothers, Gao Shang, Sun Xiaozhe, Cui Qianyu and others. At the same time, he took Zhang Tongru, An Taiqing, Li Tingwang and others under his command.
Shi Siming led Fan Yang's army to march into Yecheng, opened the treasury and rewarded the three armies. Then, he sent trusted generals to various places to take over the prefectures and counties under the puppet Yan's jurisdiction and their troops.
Shi Siming sent An Taiqing to lead an army of 5,000 men to capture Huaizhou, and left him to garrison Huaizhou.
Shi Siming originally wanted to take advantage of the victory in the Western Expedition and attack Luoyang, but because he had just seized power and the foundation was not stable, he left his son Shi Chaoyi to guard Xiangzhou (that is, Yecheng), and led his army back to Fanyang.
Although the Tang army was not defeated by the rebels in the Battle of Yecheng, this disastrous defeat contributed to Shi Siming's strong rise.