Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 779 Li Jing can't hold back anymore
In the fourth year of Shaoming, 949 AD, the fifth day of May.

Zhang Tie began to dismiss in batches the 6000 cavalry he had conscripted from the Helong area, of which only about 200 were able to enter the pro-army and the imperial army, and only [-] entered the regrettable capital.

However, Zhang Tie gave them a lot of rewards, which amounted to at least 70 guan in total.

And among them, those who killed more than five enemies, or beheaded small officers, all received the title of Xingfu Yangwu Gonggong.

Bai Congxin returned to the grassland with the tribal leaders on the grassland.

Last month, Hu Guang sent back the military report from Anxi. He had already led his army across the Tianshan Mountains to raid Suiye, and it is estimated that he has taken it by now.

After that, Huguang will stick to Suiye City and wait for the support of the Central Plains army.

Zhang Tie ordered Bai Congxin to return to the grassland, that is, when the autumn is high and the horses are fat, he will lead the way to block the ten thousand households of Buwanhu, the ten thousand households of Yejiza, and the forty thousand households of Moxi, and dispatch [-] cavalry to go around the barbarians and spread the sea to Talas Go, and attack Huguang back and forth.

At the same time, the remaining [-] households in Monan and Mobei will also mobilize at least [-] cavalry in the autumn to follow Murong Nobunaga to attack Wang's Koryo.

I, Zhang Tiankehan, know the temperament of these grassland tribes very well. Since I have become their big sweat, I can’t let them be too much. When it’s time to pull out the coolies, I have to pull them out and order them around. Of course, the benefits that should be given cannot be less.

The more you use it, the more they will really treat you like a profuse sweat.

On the sixth day of May, Zhang Tie sent his second son Zhang Xianyu and son-in-law Zhao Kuangzan to go to Dunhuang, Shazhou instead of him.

Originally Zhang Shengren promised to help Cao Yijin's coffin back to his hometown in person, but it seems that he can't fully realize it. He can only send his son and son-in-law there. After Cao Yijin's coffin arrives in Luoyang, he will personally help the coffin to Bozhou.

On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, Zhang Tie personally led [-] riders to Chanzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River.

He followed the soldiers and horses who had gone outside the Great Wall, but were homesick, back to their respective garrisons, and then led the six thousand cavalry who were willing to continue to fight, and continued southward to Caozhou.

Zhang Ting did not return to Tokyo, because there is still some finishing work, and Pei Yuan needs to continue to be a good guy. If he goes back, Pei Yuan will not be able to play this good guy anymore.

So Zhang Ke simply set up the Southern Expedition Camp in Caozhou, recruiting left and right Jinwu Guards, Zuo Baotao Guards, Imperial Army Hanhai, Yingyang, Regret Shandu Neixiangdu and other troops who did not follow the fortress to Caozhou for repair and integration.

At the same time, Tian Guogong Liu Zaisheng, under the order of Zhang Yu, led [-] steps to ride along the Ying River to Yingzhou (Fuyang, Anhui) in the northwest of Shouzhou, and began to hoard grain, grass, luggage, etc.

On May [-]th, Gao Huaide led [-] riders from the Left Jinwu Guard into Haozhou, and took over the [-] troops led by Fu Zhaoxu in Haozhou.

Then the forward went south to cruise around Qingliuguan, trying to cut off the retreat of the Qinghuai army in Shouzhou to Jiangning Mansion, and also prevent the Southern Tang army from leaving Qingliuguan to reinforce Shouzhou.

Almost at the same time, in Pingzhang, Hubei Province, guarding Jiangling, Chen Guogong Ma Zhaoyuan (Ma Yaozi) was appointed as the commander of the West Route Army, and led [-] Jiangling navy troops to Yueyang Mansion.

He started training with the Flying Tiger Army under Zhao Yanjin, preparing to attack Ezhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty from Yueyang Mansion along the waterway as soon as he was ordered.

Liu Renzhan from Shouzhou was about to go crazy. He sent a wave of envoys every three days to Jiangning Mansion.

First he asked Li Jing to send troops for reinforcements, but after Li Jing ignored it, Liu Renzhan wrote a letter again, requesting to abandon Shouzhou and let the Qinghuai army retreat to the Hezhou-Qingliuguan line. Form horns and establish a defense system relying on the Yangtze River.

Liu Renzhan has already seen that after the loss of Haozhou and Sizhou, Shouzhou hangs alone in Huainan, unable to resist the imperial army going down the river. Only in the Qingliuguan area, which is backed by the Yangtze River, can effective defense be carried out.

In history, this famous general of the Southern Tang Dynasty who was regarded as a model of loyal officials for thousands of years was regarded as a model of loyal ministers. There is no doubt about his loyalty to the Southern Tang court.

But he lacks a pair of eyes with political awareness and long-term vision. He only knows that every action he takes is to seize every possible opportunity, and the resistance plan is also the best.

But he could never understand Li Jing's hesitant mood at this moment, nor could he see clearly the doomed fate of the southern separatist kingdoms since Zhang Kai ruled the north and the Helong region alone was able to recruit tens of thousands of elites.

He regarded Zhang Tie's procrastinating process of dispatching only tens of thousands of people each time to pacify the world as the fatigue of the Central Plains and Zhang Tie's character flaws.

. . . .

In Jiangning Mansion, after Li Jing received Liu Renzhan's urgent report, he was directly overwhelmed by this terrifying feeling.

He also recalled the last battle of Huainan, when Zhang Ting personally led [-] elite cavalry to fight all the way from Chuzhou to Hezhou, defeating the elites of the entire Southern Tang Kingdom one by one, so that Jiangning City was almost without an army guard. .

On May 25, Zhang Tie, who was in Caozhou, received a plea from Li Jing. Li Jing sent three envoys, Sun Sheng, Feng Yanlu, and Zhong Mo, to plead with Zhang Tie three times.

Li Jing claimed that he was willing to send Wang Taidi Li Jingsui and his eldest son Li Hongji as hostages to go to the Southern Tang Kingdom and call it the Southern Wu Kingdom. Instead of using the official name of the court, he would change it to Bafu and the prime minister to Changshi.

All the officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty were downgraded to one level, and the domestic kings and dukes were abolished. They were willing to increase the annual tribute of 40 guan to 70 guan, and begged Zhang Ting to stop the army and not to march south.

Zhang Ting didn't even bother to meet these courtiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He had already told Han Xizai what he needed to say last time.

Now I, Zhang Shengren, have not been home for more than a year, and I am preparing for the Southern Expedition without entering Kaifeng. I feel so urgent. These conditions proposed by Li Jing are not attractive to him at all. be mine.

On the third day of June, Zhang Tie arrived at Bozhou with the [-]-step cavalry he had practiced together, and was about to go south along the vortex to enter Haozhou.

At this time, the weather began to be very hot, and there were still about three months before the army officially started to fight. Zhang Tie was going to give Li Jing another chance.

He ordered Wang Pu, a political adviser, to serve as an envoy to Jiangning Mansion to order Li Jing to capture Liu Renzhan, the envoy of the Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou, and send him to the court, and let him cross the river to Jiangdu, the eastern capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Government, waiting for disposal.

When Li Jing received the edict, everyone was paralyzed. Although Liu Renzhan caused trouble, he was the last banner of the resistance faction in the Southern Tang Dynasty. If he was taken down, it would be no different from surrendering.

Originally, after the dozens of Southern Tang Forbidden Army who followed Zhang Tie to sweep Mobei returned to the country, Li Jing couldn't stop them from propagating the benefits of the imperial court, which made people lose their hearts.

If Liu Renzhan is still taken, then despite the fact that there are still dozens of state capitals and 500 million people in the Southern Tang Kingdom, I am afraid that no one is willing to resist.

As for letting him go to Jiangdu Mansion, the eastern capital, to wait for disposal, this is absolutely impossible.

Because Li Jing knew very well that he was afraid that if he left Jiangning Mansion, someone would close the gate of Jiangning City in the next second and make him a bereaved dog.

These two requests are more outrageous than the other, and if you agree to any one, the Southern Tang Dynasty will officially come to an end.

In desperation, Li Jing convened civil and military discussions many times, but in the Southern Tang Dynasty, except for Sun Sheng, Han Xizai and others, they basically lost the will to resist.

And even Sun Sheng and Han Xizai were only engulfed by the halo of loyal ministers, thinking that since they couldn't do the act of surrender, they might as well protect Li Jing and die in the Southern Tang Kingdom. Can't get it out.

In the end, Tang Hao only suggested to Tang Hao that Li Jing could move the capital to Hongzhou (Nanchang). Tang Hao said that Hongzhou was located in the southwest of Pengli Lake.

At the same time, to the east and south of Hongzhou, there are Fuzhou Zhaowu Army Jiedushi, Qianzhou Baisheng Army Jiedushi (Ganzhou), Jianzhou Yongan Army Jiedushi three places where troops can be stationed.

These three places are far away from China, and there are mountains of Wuyi Mountain to rely on, so it is difficult for Zhou Jun to reach them.

Li Jing was very moved, but all the officials were silent, and they couldn't wait to give Tang Hao some big blows in their hearts.

Hongzhou, that is, Nanchang, has not developed at all at this time. Originally, this place experienced a wave of great development in the Tang Dynasty. The preface of Tengwang Pavilion said that Hongdu New Mansion came.

However, after the end of the Tang Dynasty, wars broke out in the west of the south of the Yangtze River, and the Yangtze River was occupied by several countries. The status of Hongzhou's traffic hub declined rapidly. Hongzhou City is small and small, less than one-fifth of Jiangning Mansion.

Moreover, Hongzhou is close to Pengli Lake, that is, Poyang Lake. At this time, Poyang Lake is not what it looks like in later generations. At this time, Yunmeng Daze has not completely disappeared.

Therefore, there are many swamps around Pengli Lake, where there are many mosquitoes, gadflies, crocodiles, and traffic is extremely inconvenient. It is simply a big quagmire.

Going there, let alone fighting against the Zhou people, whether he can live is a question.

Except for Li Jing and Tang Hao, no one agreed with Tang Hao's proposal.

Li Jingda rushed out at this time, he cupped his hands and said to Li Jing: "Brother, since ancient times, the people who established the country in the south of the Yangtze River have never heard of being able to rule the world.

Even if the northern dynasties had no holy master, the southern dynasties were as strong as Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty Liu Jinu could not go north to unify, and Emperor Chen Xuan's Northern Expedition of Taijian also failed in the end.

Today's elder brother governing the country is not as numerous as Liu Jinu, and even Chen Xu is far superior to his elder brother.

On the other hand, in the Central Plains, the son of Shaoming was sage, literary and powerful, not only far surpassing Tuoba Si, Emperor Ming and Yuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but also better than Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty who conspired to seize his grandson's family business.

Let's talk about the generals in our country. Is there any one who can follow the king to suppress evil, Tan Daoji, and Wu Ming?Liu Renzhan claims to be a famous general, but he is only assigned to carry shoes for these three people.

Is Jiangnan able to use Liu Renzhan and Yao Feng's generation to resist Ma Zhaoyuan, Murong Baipao, Li Cunhui, Yang Jiye, Zhao Kuangyin, etc.? "

Li Jingda's words made Li Jing dizzy with anger, and almost couldn't breathe.

What was even more irritating was that Feng Yanlu, Zhong Mo, Li Deming and other civil servants whom he usually cited as his confidantes also rushed to express their support for Li Jingda.

Of course, there were also those who opposed it. Sun Sheng, Han Xizai and others had a big quarrel with Zhong Mo and others, and the hall was full of smog.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Li Jingda rolled up his sleeves and punched Sun Sheng who was talking about the dangers of the Yangtze River to the ground. Then he grabbed Li Jing's sleeves and begged bitterly.

"Brother, don't believe the words of Sun Sheng and Han Xizai! They seem to be loyal, but they are not half loyal.

They want to use their elder brother and the lives of hundreds of people from my Li and Xu clans to show the world the name of their loyal ministers! "

Seeing that the court was about to start a fight, Li Jing felt more and more headaches. Originally, his mind was not very strong, but under heavy pressure, he threw off Li Jingda's hand and hurriedly retreated to the inner palace.

But within a few steps into the inner palace, they heard a burst of sobbing, and saw Queen Zhong's, Princess Ling's and others were weeping together.

Mrs. Zhong and other Shen Gong didn't know the outside situation, and thought that the imperial army had captured Jiangdu Mansion again. When they reached the north bank of the Yangtze River, they opened their mouths in fear to persuade Li Jing to surrender.

Li Jing finally couldn't hold back any longer. With a broken mind, he pointed at Zhong and others and yelled, "How do you know the lowly servant girl? I am the Lord of the Tang Dynasty, I would rather die than surrender! No surrender! Just don't surrender!"

After finishing speaking, Li Jing ran away, Ling Shi waited and looked at Zhong Shi, Zhong Shi and Li Jing had always loved each other, usually they would not say a single harsh word to her, but today being so insulted, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Your Majesty, let me wait for the lady in the deep palace to die for the Southern Tang Kingdom with him!"

Ling and the others were not very favored, nor were they queens, so they naturally didn't want to die, so they collectively begged Zhong.

"Your Majesty, at this time, is just speaking out of anger. The Queen is married to the Empress Dowager, the birth mother of the Son of Heaven. Why don't you send someone to write a letter of pleading, and ask the Empress Dowager to be your guarantor, and write a letter to persuade the King."

Although Mrs. Zhong said she begged for death, she didn't want to die in her heart. After pretending to decline a few times, she nodded her head in agreement. In this small pavilion, she wrote a letter to the Empress Dowager Cisheng and ordered her younger brother to cross the river immediately. On the way, I went to Zhang Tie's biological mother, Song, for help.

(End of this chapter)