Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 508 Loyal Ministers and Good Generals
"Xue...Xue Ni is here now?"

Upon hearing the news, Li Heng subconsciously took a step back, trying to control his trembling lips, and said, "Then retreat to Lingwu?"

Li Chu didn't understand why his grandfather was so scared and lost the dignity of the Tang Dynasty in front of the traitor. And now he hadn't lost all his strength, so he still had room to make a decision.

"Your Majesty has forgotten? Pugu Huai'en has already defected to Shuofang. I think it is inappropriate for him to go to Lingwu."

"What should I do?!"

Li Heng's voice became shrill. He realized that he was too panicked. He tried to appear calm and said, "Guo Ziyi... Yes, Guo Ziyi will be back soon. Defend Jingzhou City. Once Guo Ziyi arrives, we can repel the Xue rebels."

Li Chu looked at Li Heng in surprise and replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, if Guo Ziyi does not obey the order, we will be in a passive position."

"Will not!"

It was Li Fuguo who refuted this time. He sensed Li Heng's panic and stepped forward to rescue him, saying, "Guo Ziyi is loyal and diligent to the country. He must be on his way to the king. We just need to hold on for a few more days. Jingzhou City is strong and well-stocked. Why should we be afraid of rebellion?"

Li Chu was furious when he saw that the eunuch dared to refute him. If it were Li Tan, he would have taught him a lesson on the spot, but Li Chu could endure it and did not get angry for the time being. He just followed Li Heng's wishes and promised to defend the city. At the same time, he sent someone to urge Guo Ziyi again.

They have placed all their hopes on Guo Ziyi and are just waiting for him to come...

~~
Shangdang County.

"The land is extremely high, and it is in the same party with the sky, so it is called Shangdang." This place is located at the junction of Hedong, Hebei, and Henan, south of Taihang Mountain, and on the top of the mountain. Fukouxing, one of the eight paths of Taihang Mountain, is located here. Because of its dangerous terrain, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is said that "whoever gets Shangdang can expect to get the Central Plains."

At the beginning of An Lushan's rebellion, Li Longji transferred Cheng Ang, the former Protector General of Beiting and Right Jinwu General, to Shangdang County. One reason was to guard the important place, and the other was to be able to send troops to Henan and Hebei at any time.

Unfortunately, until Li Longji fled south, Cheng Ang was unable to find an opportunity to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Of course, he wants to achieve great things, rather than just serve as a deterrent like an unsheathed sword.

Later, Li Cong sent a general named Zhang Guangsheng to announce the decree. Somehow, Cheng Ang disliked Zhang Guangsheng at first sight, thinking how could the court send such an ugly guy, wouldn't it be a disgrace to the court? Then he thought that Prince Qing himself was also an ugly guy with scars all over his face.

Unexpectedly, not long into the conversation, Zhang Guangsheng actually said, "You still judge people by their appearance. You are really a woman at heart."

Cheng Ang was so surprised that he didn't react at first. Then he stood up and pointed at Zhang Guangsheng and said, "You...you are Gao Xianzhi?"

Zhang Guangsheng smiled, the scars on his face looked even more hideous, but his eyes showed relief.

The two did not get along well in Anxi, it can be said that they did not get along well. But after so many changes, they met again, and things and people have changed. What they felt more was sighing.

"You couldn't even defeat An Lushan, and you ended up like this." Cheng Ang ridiculed him for a few words, and then all the grudges were forgotten.

Zhang Guangsheng mocked himself: "Just think of me as losing to An Lushan, what about you? Are you planning to stay in Shangdang like a woman who never leaves the house? Are you afraid of losing?"

"Bullshit." Cheng Ang cursed, "I asked for your permission several times, but the court was in a state of chaos, so they only asked me to serve the king, not to suppress the bandits."

"Then the opportunity has come. Your Highness has ascended the throne and vowed to wipe out the rebellion. Accept the decree!"

Cheng Ang didn't move.

He was not blind or deaf, and he knew the major events that happened in Guanzhong. With the two princes ascending the throne, a smart person should wait and see, and not bet too quickly.

"What? Are you afraid of going to war?" Zhang Guangsheng said: "I'm right, you are a..."

"I will accept your order!" Cheng Ang slammed the table and stood up, cursing, "I am a soldier who can lose his head at any time in the Western Regions. What do I have to be afraid of?"

He pointed his thick and hard beard towards Zhang Guangsheng, as if to show off. Now, he is even more handsome than Gao Xianzhi.

After receiving the imperial edict, Cheng Ang wrote a memorial to Zhang Guangsheng, declaring Li Cong the emperor, and immediately ordered his troops to march out of Taihang Pass.

As expected of a famous general in the Western Region, once he made a move, An Qingxu could no longer sit still in Luoyang, and fled across the Yellow River under the attack of generals such as Wang Sili, Li Sheng, and Zhang Xun. Cheng Ang got the news and blocked the attack, defeating An Qingxu's army and forcing him to flee to Xiangzhou with only a hundred men.

Just as he was preparing to annihilate An Qingxu in one fell swoop, he received orders from Li Longji and Li Heng one after another, asking him to stop "joining the rebellion". In addition, the food and grass in Jianghuai were cut off, and Chang'an was facing an attack and had no time to look east.

By the time Li Guangbi personally arrived in Hedong to preside over the suppression of the rebellion, he had actually missed the best opportunity to suppress the rebellion. He could only suppress Henan and prevent An Qingxu from gathering people to cause chaos again.

Later, Guo Ziyi also led his troops into Shangdang, and various forces confronted each other on both sides of the Taihang Mountains.

During these days, Cheng Ang's lobbying between Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi played a role in stabilizing the overall situation. According to his opinion, no matter whether Prince Qing or Prince Zhong succeeded to the throne, everyone should get rid of An Qingxu first.

This is true, but the march and the attack on Xiangzhou City would inevitably require the conscription of farmers to transport a large amount of supplies and food across the Taihang Mountains and the Yellow River, and this problem could not be solved. Li Guangbi hoped that Jianghuai could transport food across the Yellow River, but Guo Ziyi said that the emperor and the saints did not allow Jianghuai to transport food to the enemy, and he did not have the power to do so.

In addition, Li Guangbi's mother was asked to leave by Guo Ziyi, so one can imagine the pressure he faced.

After a long negotiation, the generals finally reached a compromise, first resolving the rebellion and not interfering in the royal family disputes. As a result, Guo Ziyi did not attack Chang'an, and Li Guangbi did not support Chang'an with food and grass, and the troops surrounded Xiangzhou City.

But during this process, An Qingxu was not idle. He sent an envoy to Fan Yang to tell Shi Siming that if Shi Siming was willing to support him, he was willing to pass the throne of Dayan to Shi Siming.

The Tang army obviously did not expect An Qingxu to have such a brilliant idea, but it was indeed effective.

Since Shi Siming retreated to Fanyang, he had obtained the money and food transported back to Fanyang by the rebels, recruited a large number of brave frontier soldiers, and had a strong army. He was also appointed as the King of Guiyi by Li Heng, and served as the governor of Fanyang and Pinglu. He was full of ambition. When he received An Yingxu's promise, he was immediately moved and led his troops south.

Fighting against Shi Siming is different from besieging Xiangzhou City, and requires more cooperation between the two sides. While Cheng Ang and Li Guangbi were still worrying about how to build mutual trust with Guo Ziyi, Guo Ziyi received an imperial edict from Li Heng summoning him to serve the king.

The order from Chang'an to Li Guangbi and Cheng Ang was still to quell the rebellion and control the impact of the rebellion as much as possible.

To this end, Cheng Ang personally went to Li Guangbi's camp to discuss matters with him.

"In my opinion, asking Mr. Guo to withdraw his troops is not a bad thing."

The two walked along the bank of the Huan River, and Cheng Ang said, "If we invite him to fight against An and Shi, he will inevitably have to fight with us, and he will not be able to fulfill both loyalty and righteousness. It is better to take advantage of the fact that he is in the wrong and let him return to your mother, so that Lord Li can fulfill both loyalty and filial piety."

Li Guangbi said: "Shi Siming is very powerful. We are inferior in terms of food and manpower. I am afraid we are no match for him."

"Mr. Li defeated Shi Siming several times in the past, but now he is afraid?" Cheng Ang patted his chest and said, "If Mr. Li has no confidence, I have Cheng!"

In fact, Li Guangbi was more worried about the impact of Guo Ziyi's return to Guanzhong. But he thought again, does it really matter who becomes the emperor?
Rather than worrying about Guo Ziyi assisting Li Heng in pacifying Chang'an, it is more important to restore stability in Hebei as soon as possible.

"Then, each of you shall obey the order."

Several generals had their own persistence and helplessness. They all hoped to be able to live up to the emperor and the people, but it was difficult to grasp the balance. They each received the order and ended the confrontation in early autumn.

Guo Ziyi left in a hurry, and before leaving, he sent someone to return Li Guangbi's old mother, as well as dozens of carts of property and food, which were his private property, used to help Li Guangbi suppress the rebellion. Guo Ziyi was good in everything except that he was a little arrogant and enjoyed luxury, so it was not easy for him to come up with such a lot of money.

Li Guangbi personally went to Huguan to welcome his mother. The old lady was in high spirits and ruddy, and she said with emotion: "Don't worry, Mr. Guo has never treated me badly. The state affairs are difficult, so please be considerate."

Although they were worried that Guo Ziyi would severely defeat Prince Yong, Li Guangbi and Cheng Ang had already focused on defending against the enemy.

At the end of July, Shi Siming sent all 130,000 troops from Fan Yang to attack.

Suddenly, the land of Hebei was once again filled with dust and smoke. The rebels were so powerful that the Tang army dared not match them. They had to retreat temporarily and hold their ground, waiting for support from the court. Cheng Ang retreated to Shangdang and Li Guangbi retreated to Huaizhou.

After Shi Siming arrived, he did not enter Xiangzhou to join forces with An Qingxu, but took the opportunity to capture Weizhou. Two days later, he set up an altar in Weizhou to offer sacrifices to heaven and called himself "the Great Sage King of Zhou".

He sent Li Guiren to lead 10,000 troops to station in Fuyang to provide remote support to Xiangzhou, and at the same time to blockade An Qingxu, because Shi Siming came here to attack the throne of Dayan.

It was far from necessary to have 130,000 troops to rescue Xiangzhou. Shi Siming was determined to advance, but in fact he wanted to take advantage of the situation to capture Chang'an and establish a new dynasty.

There were still two routes to attack Chang'an: one was to take the northern capital Taiyuan, and the other was to take the eastern capital Luoyang. Hedong was higher up, overlooking Guanzhong, so it could be taken when advancing or defended when retreating. Shi Siming then sent Cai Xide to lead 10,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang.

Cheng Ang was a fierce general. When he saw the enemy coming, he led his troops to attack every day. He had many brave cavalrymen from the Western Regions under his command, riding fine horses from Dayuan, and they came and went quickly. Cai Xide was unable to cope with them, so he had to retreat two miles and think hard about how to win.

"Eating dog intestines, Cheng Ang is too fierce."

"General, why should you worry? I think Cheng Ang is just a reckless man."

Cai Xide thought to himself, how could he deal with such a fierce and capable reckless man who could break through his cleverness with his strength? He turned around and saw that it was his general An Taiqing who was speaking, so he asked, "What good plan do you have?"

"Cheng Ang relies on his fine horses from the Western Regions, which come and go like the wind. Whenever our army slacks off, he will launch a surprise attack. Whenever our army tries to pursue him, he will retreat. I have no idea..."

An Taiqing whispered in his ear, and Cai Xide asked in surprise, "Is it feasible?"

"The general will know once he tries."

The next day, Cai Xide led light cavalry to the city to challenge Cheng Ang. Cheng Ang then led a hundred cavalrymen to charge out.

Although he was well prepared, Cai Xide was still frightened when he suddenly saw the Tang cavalry approaching, and he turned his horse and ran away.

"Rebellion will cost you your life!"

Cheng Ang shouted loudly and shot two arrows on horseback, both hitting the rebel soldiers, causing the rebels to fall into chaos.

Cai Xide's original plan was to lure the enemy, but he underestimated Cheng Ang, and thought to himself that it was not good. After running for several miles, he was almost captured alive by Cheng Ang, when finally, An Taiqing led reinforcements to the front.

"Surround and kill them!"

An Taiqing originally wanted to lead Cheng Ang further away, but when he saw that Cai Xide was almost killed, he was so frightened that he broke out in a sweat and quickly drove the cavalry forward.

Seeing that he had fallen into a trap, Cheng Ang reined in his horse and fled. He actually led his troops to kill dozens of people and forged a path through the siege, escaping from the encirclement.

Seeing this, Cai Xide couldn't help but sigh that it was difficult to win, but An Taiqing asked him to continue chasing.

When the rebels chased to the bank of the Zhang River, they saw Cheng Ang already crossing the bridge.

"Retreat."

"No hurry, General, wait and see."

Cai Xide looked and saw from afar Cheng Ang riding a tall horse onto a wooden bridge. Suddenly, with a loud crash, both the man and the horse fell down.

"Haha." An Taiqing laughed and said, "I have secretly ordered people to cut off the bridge. General, please quickly capture Cheng Ang!"

……

"Oh!"

The bowl-sized horse hooves stepped on the wooden bridge, followed by a loud bang. Cheng Ang fell into the stream with his heavy armor, feeling severe pain in his waist and abdomen. He wanted to get up but was completely powerless.

His horse also broke its leg and cried out in pain. "General!" The soldiers on the shore cried out in shock and tried to go down to the mountain stream to rescue him.

But the sound of the rebels' horses' hooves was already coming closer and closer.

"go!"

Cheng Ang shouted, "Go back and tell the generals to defend the city well. We can lose our commander, but we cannot lose the city and the Tang Dynasty!"

"We are here to rescue the general..."

"Get lost!" Cheng Ang shouted angrily, "How dare you disobey my military orders?!"

The soldiers on the shore were in tears and had no choice but to mount their horses again and rush upstream to find another bridge to return to the city.

Cheng Ang couldn't bear to hear the warhorse's sad neighing, so he struggled to drag his heavy body with his arms, got close to its neck, took out a dagger, and ended its suffering.

After doing this, he wanted to pull out the dagger and commit suicide. However, due to severe injuries and blood loss, he fainted and everything went dark before his eyes.

Soon, shouts of joy were heard in the mountain stream.

"Cheng Ang is here!"

"Pass on my order, seize Shangdang while you can!"

~~
Guo Ziyi planned to cross the Yellow River from Xizhou to support Li Heng.

If it were someone else, being ordered around like this would have made them feel dissatisfied. But Guo Ziyi was not like that, and remained calm as usual. He was used to the ups and downs of life, and the unpredictable world. He never spent his energy on relying on others, and was lenient to others but strict with himself. Whether the monarch was wise or weak, he planned to fulfill his duties as a minister... In short, he did not ask Li Heng to do anything.

Such a style of behavior can be regarded as a model of a good minister in the king's mind.

However, before the army crossed the river, a messenger caught up with them and handed Guo Ziyi a battle report.

"Mr. Guo, my general has been captured. Shangdang is in danger. I beg you to support me!"

When Guo Ziyi heard this, before he could react, the eunuch Xing Yanen, the envoy sent by Li Heng, stood up behind him and started scolding.

"Did you think I didn't know that this was your evil plan? Rebel Xue and Rebel Hu have been colluding for a long time. I think Shi Siming went south this time just to rescue Rebel Xue!"

The messenger from Shangdang did not dare to argue with Xing Yanen, but fell to the ground and cried, "Mr. Guo, the general would rather die than defend Shangdang. We are afraid of failing the general's trust, so we only ask Mr. Guo to save us."

Xing Yanen said: "Mr. Guo, the sage is still waiting for you to come to the throne in Jingzhou!"

While both sides were trying to persuade each other, another general from the army arrived. Seeing Xing Yanen was also there, he handed the two letters to Guo Ziyi without saying a word.

"General Jie, this is the information gathered by the scouts."

Guo Ziyi remained calm and did not open the letter until he returned to his tent alone.

To his surprise, the first letter was written by Li Mi. Li Mi was captured. Although he did not surrender, he believed that at this time, Prince Zhong should not resist any longer and it would be more beneficial to the overall situation for him to abdicate and return to Chang'an.

The handwriting on the second piece of paper was smooth and beautiful, and it was written by Xue Bai.

Xue Bai spoke sincerely, and did not mention much about the power struggle between Li Cong and Li Heng. He just repeated his promise to Feng Changqing. After that, he predicted at length how allowing Shi Siming to go south would have a far-reaching impact on the Tang Dynasty and future generations.

In addition, Xue Bai promised that as long as Guo Ziyi was willing to quell Shi Siming's rebellion, the Chang'an court could send an order to Taiyuan, ordering Wang Jin, Yuan Jie, Yan Jiming and other Hedong officials to fully cooperate and raise food and grass for him.

This was a significant concession, and Guo Ziyi was also moved when he saw it.

At the end, Xue Bai said that it was precisely because the Tang Dynasty had so many loyal ministers and capable generals that its talents were not exhausted. If the rebellion continued to spread due to the selfishness and weakness of those in power, wouldn't it be a shame for the countless heroes who died in the battles before?
When writing this letter, Xue Bai did not know about Cheng Ang. When Guo Ziyi saw this, he could not help but think of Cheng Ang's cry after falling off the broken bridge.

"The commander can be lost, but the city cannot be lost, and the Tang Dynasty cannot be lost."

~~
The wind blew the big flag on the top of Jingyuan City, and the soldiers under the flagpole stared nervously outside the city. But Xue Bai did not order a strong attack.

In fact, his situation was not very good. The troops in Chang'an were exhausted, the food and grass were insufficient, and the enemies were many. To the northwest, he had to face Li Heng, to the northeast, Shi Siming was heading south, and to the south, Li Longji had announced to the world to attack him.

Xue Bai had a hard time fighting in this battle, he just pretended to be calm, intending to force Li Heng to surrender.

That day, Xue Bai was looking at the big flag on the top of the city with a telescope. A quartermaster came over and whispered, "Prince Yong, the army's rations are running out. Should we send one day's rations every two days?"

"Can food still be transported to Chang'an?"

"It was cut off a few days ago. Today, the messenger came back and said that there was no food in Chang'an either."

Xue Bai asked again, "Is there any new news from Hedong?"

"Reply to Prince Yong, not yet."

It seems that Guo Ziyi did not reply, perhaps he had not made a decision yet, or perhaps he had already led his light cavalry and arrived quietly.

Xue Bai was 60% sure that he could convince Guo Ziyi, because he claimed that everything he did was in the best interest of the world, and he also believed that it was because of loyal ministers like Guo Ziyi that the Tang Dynasty was still able to survive.

But the result is still unknown, which is the most worrying thing.

He paced a few steps, an idea came to his mind, and he ordered the soldiers: "Send an envoy to Jingzhou City to invite Li Chu to come out of the city to meet me."

Many generals in the army were very surprised to learn about this and thought that Li Chu would not come out of the city to meet them.

But the next day, Li Chu still came. He rode out of the city, crossed the suspension bridge, and stopped at a distance of two arrows outside the city, waiting for Xue Bai.

Afterwards, Xue Bai also came on horseback alone.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"But I often see you in my mind." Li Chu said, "Someone wants to usurp my family business. I can't ignore it, right?"

"The Tang Dynasty has never been your family business alone." Xue Bai said, "Otherwise, why would so many people sacrifice themselves?"

Li Chu narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling inexplicably angry because of this sentence.

Xue Bai, on the contrary, was very calm. In his mind, the Tang Dynasty had never belonged to the Li family. It would still belong to everyone on this land a thousand years later.

Everything he did was for this reason. It was never his intention to guard the temple for the Li family, so how could he even talk about "usurpation"?

Anger flashed across Li Chu's eyes, but he controlled his emotions and said, "The country is in trouble now, and the people are suffering. Is this what you call sacrifice?"

"My sacrifice gave you a chance."

"Don't forget, there are still powerful soldiers and generals in Jingzhou City. It will not be easy for you to break through the city..."

Xue Bai said: "Your Majesty sent an envoy to recruit Guo Ziyi, and he sent someone to Chang'an to give a reply."

Li Chu was unable to conceal his sudden surprise, and his hands tightened around the reins, saying, "Are you cheating me?"

"You know clearly whether he obeyed Li Heng's edict or not."

"How do you know you didn't rob the messenger he sent?" Li Chu asked, "But once his army arrives, will you still be able to rob him?"

This is a very smart person. Xue Bai was indeed trying to trick him, but it seems that his plan has been discovered now.

But Xue Bai was not in a hurry, and said thoughtfully: "Guo Ziyi is willing to surrender for the sake of the overall situation. He also shares the same view as Li Mi, that Li Heng should abdicate on his own guilt."

"It's fake." Li Chu didn't believe it and wanted to turn his horse around and leave.

"Guo Ziyi made two requests," Xue Bai said. "First, he doesn't want me to compete for the throne. Second, he wants His Majesty to make you a prince."

Li Chu stopped and looked thoughtful.

If Li Heng failed in his bid for the throne and was not deposed as a commoner, he would have a son who could be the heir to the throne. But now, Li Cong made him a prince. Although it had no practical effect, it showed the world that he had made contributions.

With the loss of Fengxiang, the Western Capital, the defeat of Yehu, the defection of Pugu Huai'en, and the successive defections of Li Mi and Guo Ziyi, it was not a bad choice to still have such conditions.

If Li Chu helped Li Heng to successfully seize the throne, the world would belong to him in the future. But under the huge pressure at this time, a prince title with no real power could stir up ripples in his heart, which can be said to be a trick of fate.

Xue Baiwei said reluctantly: "Your Majesty agreed to this matter for Guo Ziyi's sake, and it also shows his tolerance and kindness. If you and your son do not surrender, it will be considered as Your Majesty's utmost kindness, and I will attack the city."

Li Chu's face showed no emotion. He thought for a while before saying calmly, "I will report back to Your Majesty."

"Don't worry, His Majesty can first issue an edict to pardon your crimes, and then you can leave the city and surrender."

Xue Bai knew that a few words were enough to cause a conflict of interest between Li Heng and his son, so he said no more.

The two men each took a few steps back and turned their horses around.

~~
Li Heng was pacing back and forth anxiously. Finally, when Li Chu returned to the city, he asked hurriedly, "How is it?"

He was actually against Li Chu going out of the city to meet Xue Bai, but Li Chu said he could find out Xue Bai's true strength.

At this time, Li Chu did not mention Xue Bai's promise, but just frowned and said slowly: "According to my opinion, I am afraid... Guo Ziyi will not obey the imperial edict."

"Why?"

Li Chu finally slowly raised his head, looked into Li Heng's eyes, and said, "Grandpa, surrender."

"No!"

Li Heng was immediately furious. He grabbed Li Chu by the collar and shouted, "Do you know how deep the hatred between me and Xue Ni is? You want me to be a prisoner?!"

"Don't worry, Father. Xue Ni will never dare to take revenge." Li Chu said, "Now the whole world is watching. Father can only gain prestige if he thinks about the country and the people."

Li Heng seemed not to recognize his son. He widened his eyes and shook his head. The fear of being buried alive resurfaced.

Li Chu's eyes turned red, he knelt on the ground, and cried with blood on his face: "Father, please believe me. If I don't surrender now, I will die. Only by returning to Chang'an can I have a chance of survival!"

(End of this chapter)