First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 226
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Following the news of Huang Junhan breaking through the city of Los Angeles at night via the waterway, news of success came one after another from other places.

The puppet governor of Weizhou Shi Derui descended, the governor of Guanzhou Guo Qing surrendered, and the governor of Bianzhou Wang Yaohan surrendered... Not long after the war started, the puppet Zhengzhou County south of the Yellow River fell in anticipation.

And the Shannan states also caused waves.

The governor of Xianzhou was originally Yang Shilin. Yang Shilin raised troops to assist the Tang army in attacking Zhu Can, and attached the land of Xianzhou to the Tang Dynasty. Li Yuan immediately canonized Yang Shilin as the governor of Xianzhou, governing Xizhou, Dengzhou, Xianzhou and other states, and was named Huai'an County. Tian Zan, who returned to the Tang Dynasty together, was named the governor of Xianzhou, and he was also a high-ranking official.

Yang Shilin was very satisfied with this treatment, and the land of Xianzhou was located between Xiangyang and Luoyang. Luoyang Wang Shichong sent his nephew Wei Wang Wang Honglie to guard Xiangyang. , Wang Shichong named Tian Zan the governor of Xianzhou.

Tian Zan's surrender had a great impact. All 25 states in Shannan surrendered to Zheng, and Li Yuan was very annoyed.

Now, seeing that the Tang army was in full swing, and the puppet Zhengzhou County surrendered in anticipation, Tian Zan felt terrified again, and wrote a letter to Li Yuan to express his repentance and willingness to return to the Tang Dynasty.

Tian Zan killed Yang Shilin and surrendered to Zheng. Li Yuan was extremely annoyed at first, but considering the overall situation, he wrote back in writing, expressing that Tian Zan's crimes could be forgiven, and promised that the officials would pay homage to the governor of Xianzhou and become Duke Cai Guogong. Tian Zan was overjoyed when he received the reply. Immediately led all 25 states in Shannan to surrender to Tang.

With the fall of Xianzhou and other places to the Tang Dynasty, Wang Honglie of Xiangyang has become a lone army.

In a rage, Wang Shichong dispatched general Zhang Zhenzhou to lead troops out of Hanoi in order to break the blockade of the Tang army, but at this time Wang Shichong had already lost his support.

Zhang Zhenzhou's talent is definitely there, he is a proper general, but Zhang Zhenzhou has more moral integrity, he has already seen that Wang Shichong is doomed, and he is doomed to defeat, so he directly led the army to defect to Li Tang.

As one of the best generals in the puppet Zheng army, Zhang Zhenzhou's influence in surrendering Tang Dynasty was no less than that of Tian Zan's surrendering to Tang Dynasty with 25.

Zhang Zhenzhou was the former Sui Zuo Tunwei General and Doctor Jin Ziguanglu. He once formed the Louchuan Fleet together with Wu Benlang and Chen Ling, and entered the East China Sea from the Yangtze River. The island owner was thirsty for stabbing, and captured his son, Island Hammer, and thousands of islanders.

Although this naval battle was not well-known and unknown, it was clearly recorded in the history books.

Following Zhang Zhenzhou's surrender to the Tang Dynasty, Wei Lu, the guard of Xingyang, also surrendered the city. In just one month, all the prefectures and counties around Luoyang surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and Luoyang City seemed to be an isolated city.

It was only then that Wang Shichong lost his soul and took the initiative to ask for peace. He met Li Shimin by the Luoshui River and shamelessly ceded the prefectures and counties occupied by the Tang army to Datang.

The last Xiliang Li Gui who attempted to divide the Eastern Emperor and the Western Emperor was sent to Chang'an for execution by the An brothers. Now that Wang Shichong is vainly trying to continue to proclaim himself emperor with only an isolated city, how could Li Shimin bear it, and immediately announced to continue the attack.

Wang Junkuo was ordered to directly attack Yunyuan County, a county under Luoyang, and Liu Dewei led his army to attack Hanoi. The puppet Zheng army retreated steadily.

Luoyang City, Ziwei Palace, Wang Shichong's face was livid, staring straight at the officials in the palace, gnashing his teeth and said: "I thought that fighting in the local area, but also on the defensive, would drag down the Tang army. I never thought that in just three months, it would be a crushing defeat.

Since I accepted the position of Zen, I have always done everything by myself, and I have never dared to slack off in the slightest. Why have state affairs come to this point?Is it because I am unethical, or is my subject disloyal? "

All the ministers in the palace bowed to the ground when they heard the words. Wang Shichong stepped down from the throne and glanced at the ministers, "I know that among you people, there must be those who have a heart for Li Tang. They are not as good as others, and I will not pursue them, but I will not pursue them." Let me tell you, I will not lose."

Said Wang Shichong confidently, "Look at the hall, who is not there?"

All the ministers were at a loss when they heard the words, they looked left and right, and Yang Wang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, exclaimed: "Where are the Dai Wang and the eldest grandson?"

When Wang Shichong heard the words, he laughed loudly and said: "Yang Shangshu saw it, and I have sent the acting king and grandson Xianggong to ask for help from King Xia."

The acting king is Wang Wan, the nephew of Wang Shichong, and the grandson Xianggong is the grandson Anshi, the pseudo-zheng internal historian.

"Dou Jiande?" Everyone was surprised.

Yang Wang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you can't. Dou Jiande is an enemy and not a friend. He just robbed our Yinzhou not long ago. Joining with him is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger."

"If I am defeated, Li Tang's next target will be King Xia, and King Xia will not be so short-sighted," Wang Shichong said bluntly.

Duan Da was also slightly hesitant, with a look of worry on his face, "Dou Jiande is not a kind person, and I am afraid that he will drink poison to quench his thirst with his reinforcements."

Wang Shichong was immediately dissatisfied when he heard the words, "The matter has come to this point, and the states have fallen. If you have the ability, you will defeat the enemy. If you have the ability, you will follow the plan of acting as the king and fight against the Tang Dynasty in the summer."

Only then did the ministers know that the strategy of borrowing troops from Dou Jiande was proposed by Wang Wan on behalf of Wang Wan, so they just kept their mouths shut because Wang Shichong trusted the Wang clan very much after all.

It can be said that Wang Shichong's foundation fell so quickly, and Wang's clan "indispensably contributed" to it.

After Wang Shichong proclaimed himself emperor, he enfeoffed all his clan members as kings. His uncle Wang Qiong was the king of Chen, his elder brother Wang Shiheng was the king of Qin, Wang Shiwei was the king of Chu, Wang Shiyun was the king of Qi, his cousin Wang Shibian was the king of Qi, and his eldest son Wang Xuanying was the prince. The son Wang Xuanshu was Hanyang, his nephew Wang Tai was the Song King, Wang Jundu was the Yue King, Wang Qianshou was the Cai King, Wang Honglie was the Wei King, Wang Xingben was the Jing King, and Wang Renze was the Tang King... All brothers and nephews were named princes.

After Li Shimin led the army to attack, Wang Shichong sent good generals to resist, but at the same time he could not trust the generals, so he sent the prince to garrison. The princes who supervised the army contributed a lot.

Among them, King Xingben of Wei was stationed in Xiangyang, King Xingben of Jing was stationed in Hulao, King Tai of Song was stationed in Huaizhou, King Shiyun of Qi was stationed in the south city of Luoyang, King Shiwei of Chu was stationed in Baocheng of Luoyang, prince Wang Xuanying was stationed in the east city of Luoyang, and Wang Xuanshu of Hanyang was stationed in Hanjia in the north of Luoyang city. , King Lu Wang Daoxun stationed Yaoyi in the north of Luoyang Palace City...

In just three months, more than [-] prefectures in the puppet Zhengzhou were declared, and few of them resisted desperately. This shows that Wang Shichong has lost all support. He gave priority to supplying Luoyang City with grain and grass, causing the counties and towns outside the city to In short supply, countless people starved to death, even the dignified ministers Lu Junye and Guo Zigao starved to death outside the city, let alone ordinary people.

(End of this chapter)