It's not that Gao Ying insisted on putting him to death.
Regardless of the rest, Tuyuhun and Cui Yanbo were defeated one after another. He was the envoy Chijie and the envoy in charge of the Northern Expedition. How could he escape the relationship?
What's more, it was he and Murong Xiao who led the Tuyuhun army that defeated Cui Yanbo's camp, as well as the Western Sea army.
Based on this alone, he would never be able to escape the death penalty.
What Yuan Cheng hates is that Gao Ying confuses right and wrong and shows no responsibility at all. Now he wants to put all the responsibilities on himself and Gao Zhao, and he will not hesitate to bear the infamy for the rest of his life.
What's more, a dignified monarch threatens the lives of his ministers and family members. How is he any different from a despicable villain?
It's a pity that the situation is stronger than the people. Yuan Cheng has nothing to do except resentment.
Everything is fate, nothing is up to you.
As Li Chengzhi said: Thunder, rain, and dew are all your kindness. How many people are like Li Chengzhi, who have the courage to flip the table whenever they feel unhappy?
You can only die once, and you cannot leave trouble to your descendants after you die.
Therefore, no matter how unwilling or resentful Yuan Cheng was, he could only submit obediently.
He gritted his teeth and sneered: "Since the Queen Mother has made a decision, she has issued an order, and I must obey it!"
That's what I was waiting for.
Qin Song was immediately happy and said: "I will go and ask the Queen Mother for orders now!"
…
If you think about it carefully, this is the third time that the imperial court has sent envoys to the West Sea.
The first time he met Cui Guang and Wei Zijian, Roubaozi beat the dog and never came back.
The second time was Li Shao, who did not stay for half a day, and was ultimately accused of poor recruitment.
This time the battle was even more massive, and the chief envoy was Liu Fang, envoy Chijie. In addition, Gao Ying issued an edict overnight, telling all armies in Longxi, Guanzhong, and Six Towns to be in a state of restraint and to return to Fangjie, and no one dared to violate them.
This means that whenever Liu Fang orders, Cui Yanbo, Xing Luan, Yuan Yao and Xi Kangsheng must abide by it, otherwise it will be a serious crime of rebellion.
In addition, the deputy envoys Yuan Yuan and Yang Shu were granted leave and had the power to make arbitrary decisions based on the situation.
Although these three people have different identities and responsibilities, they all have one thing in common: they have a close relationship with Li Chengzhi, and they helped Li Chengzhi a lot when he was in his prime.
Therefore, anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that the imperial court is calling this peace negotiation, but actually it is to save peace. It wants to take advantage of the friendship between these three people and Li Chengzhi to ask him to temporarily stop fighting.
And this is only the second step. The most important thing is that the court's attitude towards Xihai this time is no longer superior, but dialogue as equals. Even the documents for peace talks use the word "zhi" instead of "grant". More or given.
To put it bluntly, the Yuan and Wei dynasties have acquiesced that Xihai is a real "state", just like Tuyuhun, Rouran, and Nanliang, rather than a tributary state.
It's just that I was worried about the last trace of face and didn't issue an edict to the world...
Five days before departure, the imperial court rushed 800 miles to deliver credentials to Xihai. Li Chengzhi's reaction was not unpleasant. Before the mission left the capital, Huangfu Rang, Li Liang, Da Xi, Zhang Jingzhi, Li Feng, Zhang Xinyi and others received secret orders one after another: suspend the troops temporarily!
Huangfu Rang had already occupied Bogulu Town, and Li Feng had even advanced to the western foot of Langshan Mountain to confront Yuan Yao and Xi Kangsheng across Gaoque Pass and Jiluk Pass.
Daxi's identity cannot be exposed for the time being, so Li Chengzhi ordered him to retreat to Bigan City temporarily.
Beyond that are Li Liang, Zhang Jingzhi, Li Feng, and Li Shi.
The total strength of the army was nearly 50,000, and it took two months to conquer all the land in Longxi. It reached Bogulu in the north, Wudu Town in the south, and Xiaoguan in the east, including the Qin and Liang prefectures, all of which had returned to the West Sea.
Li Chengzhi had a strict order, ordering Li Liang and others to stop when they were ready. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before Chencang and Qizhou were captured.
They didn't even need artillery, but when troops came to the city, seven out of ten counties would surrender without a fight. Cui Yanbo was stationed in Chencang, so close that he had more than enough ambition but not enough power.
Since mid-April, he has suffered defeat after defeat, retreating again and again. He has retreated from Shanshan Town to Chencang Pass. This retreat is more than a thousand miles.
Cui Yanbo tried his best to keep the army from being defeated. Although he was defeated repeatedly in battles, at least the losses were not serious.
But to say that there is still some morale and fighting spirit left is like joking.
Therefore, Cui Yanbo knew very well: if he divided his troops to garrison in various counties, he was afraid that they would collapse as soon as they heard the sound of cannons and lower them as soon as they saw the "Lee Flag". But by gathering in Chencang, at least they had more people and strength, and they had some confidence.
Furthermore, Longxi is not a small area. It has three prefectures: Qin, Liang, and Hezhou, as well as three towns: Shanshan, Wuhan, and Wudu. There are dozens of prefectures and counties under it. Even if it surrenders at the first sign of the wind, the West Sea can rise again in one day.
How many counties should be occupied, and how many troops can be stationed in one county?
Therefore, Cui Yanbo had already predicted that since the purpose of Xihai is to occupy land and rob people, there will be no more wars for the time being, at least there will be no invasion of Guanzhong in the short term.
In this way, it really stopped in recent months. Small battles continued, but most of them were short-lived.
Li Liang, who was stationed in Qingshui County, was less than 400 miles away from Cui Yanbo, who was stationed at Chencang Pass.
The Chinese army at Guan was only separated by a mountain ridge.
But strangely, it seems that Longshan has really become a natural chasm. After arriving in Qingshui County, the Xihai army, which was as fierce as a tiger descending from the mountain, never moved a step further east.
However, the imperial army was all frightened, fearing that one day iron bullets capable of destroying mountains and cracking cities would fall on their heads, so they were cautious and did not dare to be careless.
When Liu Fang and others came out of Longguan, they saw an extremely strange scene: there were figures on the mountains, there were swords and pines on the city walls, and the soldiers all looked like they were facing a formidable enemy.
Less than a mile away, at the foot of the mountain, there were countless cattle and sheep scattered under the pass. The Xihai soldiers who shepherded the sheep even wore armor, and most of them only wore linen trousers and hemp crotches (vests).
If there are cattle and sheep going up the mountain, at most they will shout a few times and not come to chase them. But in the mountains, the imperial soldiers in Guancheng do not dare to be careless. But if there are cattle and sheep that are close enough to be within shooting range, they will either use blunt arrows or shoot them with arrows.
Hit it back with a slingshot.
Why do you think he is so cautious?
All because the lessons were too profound: at the beginning of Tuyuhun's defeat, although the 70,000 to 80,000 defeated troops rushed eastward without a clue, Cui Yanbo held an army of nearly 200,000 and built the camp higher and higher.
Firm and firm.
Moreover, a river was dug outside the camp to protect the camp, so Cui Yanbo's camp could not be defeated by Tuyuhun's troops alone.
It was Huangfu Rang who used a clever trick to collect the defeated horses of the Tuyuhun cavalry, then tied the explosives to the horse's neck, extended the lead, and wrapped it around the horse's tail and the horse's hind body.
As soon as the lead wire was connected, the horse only knew how to run forward, not to mention that there was a ditch in front of it, even if it was a high cliff, it would jump without fail. Using this method, Huangfu Rang not only filled in the ditch, but also blew up the wall of the village.
It even opened a way for Tuyuhun's defeated army.
The Huoma, who were already bombarded when they entered the camp, were frightened. After Tuyuhun's defeated troops rushed into the camp, the chaos became even more chaotic. Moreover, Huangfu Rang ordered the artillery camp to fire from two miles away. How could Cui Yanbo be invincible?
?
As the saying goes, one learns from one's mistakes. Whenever today's officers and soldiers see livestock approaching Guancheng, they can't help but think of the tragic images of that night. How could they not be on guard?
The reason why blunt arrows and slingshots are used instead of sharp arrows is naturally because they are afraid of explosives hidden in the livestock. Therefore, they will only drive them farther away instead of shooting them to death at the pass.
As for being shot dead and hung up to eat meat, don't even think about it.
God knows if General Xihai had poisoned the cattle and sheep in advance just like he did with Murong Xiao?
Therefore, Cui Yanbo had already issued strict orders, but if there were livestock approaching the pass, he would just drive away. Naturally, he also had the intention of not wanting to take the initiative to stir up trouble.
So it looks like the defenders on the mountain and the city are helping the enemy herd their cattle.
The shepherd soldiers were also happy and leisurely, just standing a hundred feet away, singing or joking. But when it was time to eat, they would also set up a fire to barbecue...
Seeing this scene, everyone from Liu Fang on down had dark faces and sinking faces.
People like Yang Shu, who loves things so seriously, almost made his eyes pop out.
Even if you don't dare to shoot someone for fear of provoking trouble, why don't you dare to shoot a sheep?
Could it be that Cui Yanbo was frightened out of his wits by Li Chengzhi?
Seeing the sarcastic look on his face and the disdain in his eyes, as if he was hesitant to speak, Li Shao quickly pulled him back: "If you don't know what's going on, don't say anything..."
Liu Fang, Yuan Cheng, and Gao Zhao didn't say anything. I'm only a few years old, and you dare to ask me to comment?
I am straight-tempered, but not stupid?
Yang Shu rolled his eyes and snorted again.
Cui Yanbo was on one side, barely visible.
How could a defeated general speak bravely? Even if he was laughed at, he would admit it.
We can only wait for the imperial court to be defeated severely again, and then we will know Li Chengzhi's many tricks...
I was thinking to myself, and then I heard Liu Fang sigh sadly: "I've sent you off for a thousand miles, but I'll have to say goodbye eventually. My Lord, please come back!"
Cui Yanbo did not show any politeness, he cupped his fists and responded: "Everyone, take care, I will send you off not far away!"
After saying that, he went down to the city without waiting for anyone's response. Not long after, dozens of people rode out of the south gate and ran towards Chencang.
This move was a bit rude, but no one cared about it, they just made their own calculations in their hearts.
If an ordinary person suffered a big defeat and lost his troops, there would probably be hundreds of memorials to apologize for. But Cui Yanbo didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, as if he had accepted his fate?
Everyone knows that the reason why Cui Yanbo is like this is just unwillingness and unwillingness.
Unwilling to fight a good battle, he became the defeated general. Although Yuancheng was a wise man, in the end he was greedy for life and afraid of death, causing him to bear the infamy of the world.
If Yuan Cheng had not escaped from the trouble and taken the first step when the Tuyuhun camp was in chaos, Murong Xiao would not have abandoned the army and fled. How could the nearly 100,000 elite cavalry be defeated so quickly?
It was enough to take one step first, but he didn't take any detours and rushed straight to the Shanshan camp. Murong Xiao pursued Yuan Cheng relentlessly, and then led 99% of the defeated army, and even more
The Western Sea Army.
Therefore, Cui Yanbo had long hated Yuan Cheng to the core, and was even more angry that the imperial court did not know people well and treated things unfairly: with such a huge defeat, Yuan Cheng should have been killed long ago to pay tribute to the soldiers who died.
As long as Yuan Cheng is killed, what's the point of Cui Yanbo dying to apologize?
It is a pity that Yuan Cheng has been in the capital for nearly two decades, but there is no news at all. The court has neither official reports nor imperial edicts, and has never asked him about his defeat. Cui Yanbo thought that the Queen Mother was shielding Yuan Cheng.
Are you treating such a huge defeat like a cloud?
Fortunately, Cui Yanbo didn't know that Yuan Cheng was also in the mission, otherwise there would have been trouble, and even a mutiny was possible, so Liu Fang left in such a hurry.