Chapter five hundred and forty-ninth generation Taifu
In the misty and dangerous pavilion, I laugh and talk alone on the thousands of peaks. Who can I share the appreciation with? Thousands of miles of smoke and waves.
When you grow old, your feelings will still be like thinking about the end of the world. You will feel empty and melancholy. You will be bold and unrestrained as a young man. Don’t imitate the example of a declining old man.
——"Dian Jiang Lip·Shaoxing Yimao Dengjue Pavilion" Ye Mengde (Song Dynasty)
…
Guo Ziyi was dismissed and left unjustly; Li Guangbi made a strong appearance and strictly governed the army. This back and forth filled Shuofang's army with a feeling of opposition and rejection from top to bottom.
As Bai Fu expected, Shuofang's troops were unsettled and dissatisfied, almost triggering a mutiny.
The first to attack was Zhang Yongji, the military envoy on the left side of Shuofang's army.
Zhang Yongji was a general whom Guo Ziyi relied heavily on, and he made great contributions to Shuofang's army:
In the tenth month of the second year of Emperor Suzong's reign (757), Yi Chou, Guo Ziyi sent Zhang Yongji, the military envoy on the left, and Hun Shizhi, the military envoy on the right, to lead the army to attack Heyang and Hanoi.
After the great victory in this battle, the rebel Yan Zhuang surrendered, Yin Ziqi was executed, and the entire Chenliu County surrendered to the Tang army.
…
After the defeat of Yecheng, Shuofang's army retreated to Qianmen. The generals were frightened and wanted to abandon Luoyang and retreat to Puzhou and Shaanxi to protect themselves.
At the critical moment, Zhang Yongji, the Marquis of Duyu, stood up and advised Guo Ziyi not to retreat anymore but to go to Heyang to defend. Later, he personally led 5,000 infantry to Heyang and defeated the rebel general Zhou Zhi, thereby protecting Heyang.
It is true that the Luoyang area did not fall into the hands of the rebels.
…
Zhang Yongji has always been bitter about Guo Shuai's unjust dismissal from his post. Seeing that Li Guangbi changed his palms at night and did not act very openly, he was full of complaints.
Not long after, Li Guangbi sent a message asking him to leave Heyang, where he was stationed, and go to Luoyang to meet him. Li Guangbi summoned him suddenly, and Zhang Yongji was naturally full of suspicion.
Zhang Yongji suspected that Li Guangbi wanted to operate on himself to scare the monkeys, so he decided to disobey.
Zhang Yongji immediately summoned the generals, planning to organize elite troops to raid Luoyang, expel Li Guangbi and welcome back Guo Ziyi.
Zhang Yongji was a warrior who was impulsive and bold. Heyang's elite quickly assembled, put on their armor and mounted their horses, ready to go.
Seeing that the Heyang army was about to mutiny, Shuo Fang knew that the military envoy Pugu Huai'en rushed to Heyang in time and forcibly held down Zhang Yongji and his party.
Pu Gu expressed his kindness and urged: "Although the eunuch Yu Chao'en is mainly responsible for the defeat of Yecheng, it is also true that Shuofang's army was defeated first. Guo Linggong is indeed to blame, so the imperial court removed his military power.
If you do the following today and lead your troops to mutiny, you will be able to drive Li Guangbi out of Shuofang's army and forcefully welcome Guo Shuai back. However, this will be considered as treason if you use force to violate the ban!"
Kang Yuanbao, the commander of Youwufeng, was not so polite. He pointed at Zhang Yongji's nose and cursed: "You are a dog-slaughterer. If you launch a mutiny to welcome Guo Linggong, the court must suspect that Guo Linggong is behind the scenes."
By doing this, you are forcing the imperial court to kill the nine Guo Linggong clans! Let me ask Zhang Jun, how can the entire Guo family resist you? You want to kill someone with a borrowed knife and put them to death?!"
When Guo Ziyi was implicated, Zhang Yongji finally changed his temper, gave up angrily, and ordered the three armies to return to camp.
…
When Bai Fu learned about this, he felt bad. He sighed to Tang Huan and others: "Zhang Yongji will be dead soon."
Tang Huan said: "Brother Bai, why did you say this? Even if Zhang Yongji acted recklessly, he was still an important general of Shuofang Army. Li Guangbi could at most alienate this person and slowly seize his military power. How dare he just come to Shuofang Army and have an unstable foothold?
Just kill him?"
Bai Fu said: "It is precisely because Li Guangbi has not established a firm foothold and his foundation is unstable that Zhang Yongji's head is needed to sacrifice the flag to establish his authority and intimidate the three armies.
Li Guangbi is said to be well versed in the art of war, so how could he let go of this opportunity presented to him."
After that, Bai Fu told the story of how during the Spring and Autumn Period during the War between Qi, Jin and Yan, Qi State General Tian Ranju killed Qi Jinggong’s favored minister Zhuang Jia, who was overseeing the army.
Bai Fu said: "Since ancient times, when famous generals send troops, the first thing they do is to find trouble and kill people to establish their authority. It is best to kill the emperor's cronies and those who think they have backers and backgrounds. The soldier sage Sun Tzu also used this method to kill Wu Wang's beloved concubine.
Those who think they have backers and backgrounds are most likely to be pulled out to sacrifice the flag during reforms and campaigns, and the more people with prominent positions are killed, the more prestige they can establish.
What is the fate of Tian Ruoju?
When the Qi army returned home in triumph, Qi Jinggong conferred the title of Grand Sima on Tian Rangju and led hundreds of officials to greet him in the suburbs. How could he remember his favorite minister Zhuang Jia?
From then on, Tian Rangju became the famous Sima Rangju, while Zhuang Jia became a laughing stock.
Sima Ranju's routines have been borrowed and copied by others throughout history, but every time there are people who are ignorant and ignorant, and send their own heads to the door to achieve the other party's reputation!"
At the end of the sentence, Bai Fu said: "Sun Tzu said: 'If you are thick but cannot be used, if you are loving but cannot be commanded, if you are chaotic but cannot be controlled, you are like a arrogant man who cannot be used.'"
Tang Huan scratched his head and asked, "Brother Bai, what does this mean?"
Bai Fu glared at Tang Huan and said, "To sum up this sentence, it means the same thing: officers are more terrifying than enemies!"
…
Although the Heyang Army mutiny was stopped, how could Li Guangbi not know about Zhang Yongji making such a big fuss?
A few days later, Li Guangbi left the Shuofang Army camp with thousands of elite cavalry and patrolled the armies along the way. He traveled to Sishui (now northwest of Xingyang City, Henan Province) and entered the territory under the jurisdiction of the Heyang Army. Zhang Yongji had to go to the camp to see him.
Without saying a word, Li Guangbi immediately ordered Zhang Yongji to be pushed out of the camp gate and beheaded on the grounds of disobeying military orders.
Just as Bai Fu expected, Li Guangbi used thunderbolts to kill Zhang Yongji, who had committed a crime that was not worthy of death.
When they learned that Zhang Yongji had been killed, Shuofang's army was shocked.
Pugu Huai'en's face was ashen. As the second most powerful figure in the Shuofang Army after Guo Ziyi, if he was not careful, he would be killed in the next step.
After Pugu Huaien and his disciples made some plans, they rode alone to the camp and paid homage to Li Guangbi.
Li Guangbi was dignified and solemn, and listened to Pugu Huaien's report on the military situation.
Not long after, Li Guangbi's soldiers panicked and went inside to report that five hundred heavily armored Hu cavalry, fully armed, had rushed straight into the camp. They had now broken through the defenses and arrived at the entrance of the tent.
Li Guangbi suddenly changed his expression, knowing who the visitor was.
Pugu Huai'en glanced at Li Guangbi calmly, hurried out of the tent, pointed at the cavalry surrounding the Chinese army's tent and scolded him: "I have repeatedly warned you not to come, why don't you listen to the general's orders?"
The first Hu general clasped his fists and said: "We are worried that this is the Hongmen Banquet, so we came here to take the general back to the camp."
Pugu Huai'en whipped Hu General's face with his horsewhip and shouted: "Nonsense, General Guangbi is the commander-in-chief of Shuofang Army and not an enemy army. How can it be detrimental to me? I think your head was kicked by a horse's hoof."
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Come on, take it down for me and deal with it under military law!"
Li Guangbi smiled and quietly watched the exaggerated performance of Pugu Huaien and his men.
Li Guangbi knew full well that this was Pugu Huai'en's naked intimidation, lest he kill him as a warning to others and turn Pugu Huai'en into the second Zhang Yongji.
However, Pugu Huaien's heavy armored cavalry is the main force of Shuofang's army. Although the thousands of elites he brought this time are large in number, they are insufficient in combat power. If they fight, they may not be their opponents.
Seeing that the play was almost finished, Li Guangbi walked up to Pugu Huai'en with a smile on his face, patted his shoulder, and said: "The soldiers are eager to protect the master and follow the master to life and death. This is the performance of a loyal and brave man. What's the crime?"
have?!"
After that, he ordered people to bring out the wine and meat, and held a banquet in honor of Pu Guhuai'en and his party.
During the banquet, Li Guangbi had an astonishing amount of alcohol and drank frequently to comfort and comfort the five hundred horsemen.
Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en sat at two tables, mingling with each other and toasting frequently. It seemed that they were chatting and laughing, and both the host and the guest were happy, but in fact they were testing each other, with swords and swords flashing, and hidden murderous intentions. It was like fighting in front of the two armies, deciding life and death.
After a banquet, they found that they were of equal strength and met their opponents. If they make peace, both sides will benefit, and if they divide, they will suffer both sides.
Both of them are battle-hardened and resourceful people, and they finally reached an agreement, shook hands, made peace, and worked together.
…
After killing Zhang Yongji and subduing Pugu Huai'en, Li Guangbi combined kindness and power. Without spending much effort and time, he won the hearts of Shuofang's generals.
Although many people were still dissatisfied, at least on the surface, they followed Li Guangbi's command and dispatch, and no one dared to casually disobey his military orders.
Seeing that Shuofang's army was captured by Li Guangbi, Bai Fu knew that he had no objection to staying any longer and decided to set off and return to Chang'an.
After everything was packed and everyone was driving out of Luoyang City, Tangmen flying pigeons came to report that Taifu Xu was overworked and died of illness in Xiangyang.
Since An Lushan's rebellion, Taifu Xu has been stationed in Xiangyang to ensure the transportation of grain and grass from the Jianghuai River to the Tang army's camps along the various roads. He has been working hard day and night.
After the defeat in Yecheng, several years of hard work were ruined. Taifu Xu was severely hit, suffered from heart failure, exhausted from overwork, and became ill from overwork. He could not afford to fall ill and passed away.
After Bai Fu read the pigeon letter, he felt great grief, his throat felt sweet, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he fainted on the spot.
…
After everyone came to rescue him, Bai Fu woke up slowly, knelt on the roadside, and cried loudly.
Thinking back to those days, when he first arrived, Taifu rescued him from Li Linfu, took him with him, and followed his guidance; in the Hongwen Hall, he taught earnestly; on the disaster relief journey, he taught by words and deeds...
Bai Fu's every step in Chang'an was inseparable from the Taifu's help and care. He didn't expect that our farewell would be forever.
Today, the Taifu's voice and appearance are still before our eyes, but the yin and yang are separated, and humans and ghosts are on different paths.
Heaven is jealous of talented people. Whether they are the most talented in the capital or famous all over the world, they will eventually turn into a three-foot tomb mound and a handful of loess.
Master Zhongsi, Master Qingxuan, and Taifu, these three mentors were like loving father and elder brothers to Bai Fu. Now, the people he most respected and loved in his life have left one after another, which makes Bai Fu's heartache unbearable.
Life is so fragile and short. It passes away inadvertently, and I regret it even more, only to realize that I was unable to say goodbye properly at the last stop...
Bai Fu wiped away his tears, got on his horse, pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, faced the cold wind, and returned to Luoyang.
Under everyone's surprised gazes, Bai Fu shouted sternly: "Brothers, I want to return to Shuofang! I will never destroy the rebels and I will never be a human being!"