Chapter 93: The Sui and Tang Dynasties (Twenty-three)
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Nearly ten days have passed since Chang'an's siege, and the Sui army has never launched an offensive. From the beginning, Yang Yuanqing did not plan to attack the city. The Tang Dynasty was already out of power, and the Tang army had no hope. Perhaps they were a little confused at the beginning, but with the time
They will only become more and more desperate
On the morning of the tenth day, ten huge trenchers appeared outside the four city walls on the east, west and south of Chang'an. The giant trenchers were two feet tall and five feet tall. They were pulled by dozens of cows and rumbled towards the city wall.
[
The soldiers on the city wall suddenly became nervous, and the alarm bell rang. The Tang soldiers, who had been tortured to death, rushed to the city wall again, placing arrows, and looked at the slasher slowly approaching under the city.
"Prepare the bed crossbow!"
Duan Decao shouted loudly, and a bed crossbow was mounted on battlements and aimed at the catapult hundreds of steps away.
"shooting!"
The sound of dongdong drums sounded, and thousands of crossbows on the top of the city were fired at the same time. The dense long arrows shot at the catapult. The force was strong, and the sound of shooting on the wooden frame was slammed, and the ox was constantly being shot.
, fell into a pool of blood.
The giant catapult stopped three hundred steps away. A catapult was pulled and pulled by more than a hundred soldiers. The several-long throwing arm was bent down. Several Sui soldiers put the spherical leather bag into the catapult.
Inside the machine.
"put!"
Dozens of large balls were thrown at the head of Chang'an City one after another. In the air, the balloons broke open, and fliers fell over the sky, blowing into the city by the wind. The Tang soldiers on the city also stopped shooting, dazed.
Looking at the paper falling from the sky, many soldiers took advantage of the officer's unpreparedness and grabbed one and put it in their arms.
"No private storage is allowed, all leaflets are handed over!"
Duan Decao rode a horse and shouted on the top of the city, but soon he became desperate. The Sui army continued to throw again. There were pieces of paper floating above the entire city, with hundreds of thousands of pieces...
The Dugu family set up twenty-four porridge relief greenhouses in Chang'an City, helping the hungry people in Chang'an day and night, causing many poor families to save food. The already desperate families saw hope again, and the crowds were endless every day in front of the porridge shed.
There was a long queue to accept relief from the Dugu family.
Three porridge sheds were set up in front of the gate of Liren City alone. Thousands of people came to queue up to receive the porridge every day. At noon, a carriage slowly sat in Liren City under the escort of more than a dozen knights.
He stopped in front of the gate, the car door opened, and Li Jiancheng, dressed in ordinary clothes, walked out of the carriage.
In just ten days, Li Jiancheng lost weight. The court's appeals for surrender came one after another, putting great pressure on him, and he gradually became a little desperate. Today he went on a private visit to learn about the situation among the people.
From afar, he saw three huge porridge sheds. There was a big banner next to the porridge shed, saying "Dugu Relief Porridge". The four big words "Dugu Family" actually used all its food to provide relief to the civilians.
Li Jiancheng sighed in his heart.
He knew exactly what the Dugu family was about, but he also accused them. Although the Dugu family did not participate in the court officials' forced palace, his actions were more likely to hit Li Jiancheng's heart than forced palace.
It was noon, and there were crowds in front of the three porridge sheds, and thousands of poor people rushed from all directions, and a long line was formed in front of the porridge shed.
Li Jiancheng also lined up in the queue. Several guards wanted to stop him, but he waved his hand and rushed to the other side. The team was filled with noise, as if they were talking about something. Only then did Li Jiancheng find that each of them was in their hands.
They all held a colorful piece of paper.
"This old man, what is this piece of paper?" Li Jiancheng asked an old man next to him curiously.
"Haha! This is the order that the Sui army threw into the city this morning. There are thirteen promises on it, which is exciting!"[
Li Jiancheng was surprised and borrowed the order and looked at it. There was a line of big words written on the front, "The Great Sui Dynasty's letter to Chang'an Military and Civilians". Next were thirteen promises, the first one was to implement the equal-field system in Guanzhong, and Hedong and Hebei.
Similarly, Ding gave 100 acres of land, while Ding gave 80 acres of land.
Article 2 promises to implement low tax burdens and low labor service, and to rest with the people; Article 3 says that all officials of the Tang Dynasty will not blame each other and pardon them; Article 4 promises not to kill the Li Tang royal family and not to kill him; Article 5
It was the Sui Dynasty that the capital of Chang'an was established, restored the prosperity of Chang'an, defeated the Western Turks as soon as possible, and restored the Silk Road; the sixth was to open warehouses and release grain, promising to lower the price of grain to less than a hundred ciders of rice.
Almost every item is targeted and very touching, which makes Li Jiancheng feel chilled.
The old man smiled and said, "To be honest, everyone from Chang'an is looking forward to the Sui army entering the city and regaining the prosperity of Kaihuang's prosperous era. Let the Tang Dynasty end quickly! It's really annoying."
"That's it!" A woman next to her said angrily: "It's going to be over. What's the point of staying on it? It's dragged down day by day. Didn't Li Jiancheng claim to love the people as much as his son? If he really loves the people, he should
Obey public opinion, end the war, and stop killing each other."
"The summer harvest is coming soon, but the city gate is closed. What should I do if the wheat outside the city is going to do?"
"My second uncle's family is in Jiangjun. He has 150 acres of land at home, and he also distributed cattle and sheep and built a new house. The Tang Dynasty was in Guanzhong for several years, and he gave us nothing, but nothing was left!"
Everyone said something, and I said something. Li Jiancheng felt particularly heavy in his heart. He could no longer stay there and left the team. At this time, he had no intention of inspecting the market anymore. He sighed and said to the guards: "
Go back to the palace!”
Li Jiancheng returned to the East Palace and just entered his study, an eunuch came forward to report: "Your Majesty, Xiao Prime Minister and Chen Prime Minister asked for a meeting."
"Supreme them come in."
Soon, Xiao Yu and Chen Shuda hurried in, with a serious expression on their faces, and stepped forward and bowed, "See Your Majesty!"
"What happened?" Li Jiancheng asked calmly. He had experienced too many things during this period and was already a little numb.
Chen Shuda stepped forward and said, "Report to Your Majesty, Dou Gui, Pei Ji and Feng Deyi, the three of them led all officials to resign collectively. A total of 156 officials submitted their resignation."
Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly. There were only less than 170 people in total, and will there be 156 people who want to resign?"
He asked Xiao Yu again, "Is this the case for Xiao Xiangguo?"
Xiao Yu shook his head: "Your Majesty, just now, the news came from Prince Chai that there was an internal strife in the west city. More than a thousand soldiers were about to open the city to surrender, but Prince Chai was stopped in time."
Li Jiancheng sighed long and came to the front with his hands behind his back. He looked up at the lingering white clouds in the sky. The hearts of the people, the hearts of the ministers, and the spirit of the army have passed away. Is the Tang Dynasty over like this?
"Two prime ministers!"
Li Jiancheng said slowly: "I plan to open the city and surrender."
Chen Shuda and Xiao Yu looked at each other, but they did not object. In fact, they also wanted to persuade Li Jiancheng to surrender. The Sui army launched a powerful psychological offensive. It is estimated that the army will mutiny and surrender tonight. In addition to Duan Decao and Changsun Shunde, the officers below
It is impossible for us to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty again. The people and the military have gone, and there will definitely be officers surrendering to Xiancheng. Instead of being captured by the Sui army, it is better to negotiate surrender and gain a little political advantage.
Xiao Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to the Sui camp for the envoy to negotiate with Yang Yuanqing."
Li Jiancheng nodded and took out a gold medal for him, "You can go on behalf of me to negotiate with the Sui army."[
.........
The Golden Light Gate in Xicheng slowly opened. Xiao Yu and two guards rode out of the city gate and headed towards the Sui army camp. Tens of thousands of soldiers on the city were watching him. They all understood that this was going to negotiate with the Sui army.
Xiao Yu came to the Sui camp and shouted loudly: "I am Xiao Yu, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. I come to see His Highness the King of Chu on the order of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Please inform me."
The soldiers rushed to report, and soon after, the camp gate opened, and a team of Yang Yuanqing's personal soldiers drove out of the camp and bowed to the head captain: "Your Highness, King of Chu, please invite Xiao Prime Minister and come with us."
Xiao Yu took a deep breath and followed them into the camp. He walked slowly along the horse road, with both sides being on high alert. Teams of Sui soldiers were holding guns and bows, staring at him coldly, and came to the central army's tent.
Several personal soldiers stepped forward to search and invited him into the tent.
Only Yang Yuanqing was standing in front of the sand table with his hands behind his back. This sand table is the sand table in the world, five meters long and half of which occupy almost half of the large tent. Xiao Yu walked up and bowed and bowed, "See King of Chu."
Your Highness!”
Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and smiled and said, "Xiao Prime Minister is exempt from gifts. I hope my personal soldiers do not have a gift to the Prime Minister."
Xiao Yu shook his head, "They have no courtesy."
Yang Yuanqing smiled and said, "Let me tell the prime minister a good news first! My general Su Dingfang led 60,000 coalition forces to break through the Western Turkic tent and killed more than 40,000 enemies. The Khan of Shekui was beheaded by Su Dingfang and captured.
There are more than 500 Turkic nobles. How about it? Is this good news?"
Xiao Yu showed a bitter smile on his face, "This is indeed good news. As a Han Chinese, I feel deeply relieved."
"The reason why Xiao Xiangguo can say this shows that he is broad-minded. However, there is also bad news. Duan Zhihong has led his army to surrender to the Sui army. I hope this news will not attack Xiao Xiangguo too much."
Xiao Yu bit his lip. This was originally a bargaining chip for him to negotiate, which could make the Bashu army surrender, but the bargaining chip has now disappeared. He took a deep breath, "Your Highness, let's talk about the future!
How to solve the current dilemma?”
"Seiangguo Xiao thought there was anything else necessary to talk about?"
Yang Yuanqing took out a stack of letters and threw them in front of him, and said lightly: "This is the letter of loyalty from the fourteen generals guarding the city. They all shot down the city with arrows. Eight of them expressed their willingness to surrender to the city tonight, saying
To be honest, I can never see you."
Xiao Yu felt dizzy in front of him, and after a while he struggled: "Okay! We only have one request, please give His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty the last dignity."
Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Close the treasury, save the archives, close the palace gate. As long as Li Jiancheng can do this..., I can give him the last dignity, and he doesn't have to surrender from the city."
"What should your Highness deal with him?"
Yang Yuanqing took out a letter and handed it to him, "This is my handwritten letter. If you give it to him, I will appoint him as Duke of Tang and take his family to Tang County for retirement!"
The Mingde Gate of Chang'an slowly opened, and 100,000 Sui troops lined up to enter Chang'an. As the dull bell of Tai Chi Palace rang, it meant the end of an era.