Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 523: I am in Cao Ying and my heart is in Han Dynasty

"Then let's deal with it according to King Yong's wishes."

Li Zhi finally sighed and lowered his noble head.

If Deng Jingshan is not dealt with today, if those angry Bianzhou soldiers mutinied, the consequences would be disastrous.

At this time, all he could do was to sacrifice Deng Jingshan to save his own position as the governor of Henan.

Of course, he was not clinging to power, but the country was in trouble and needed important officials of the royal family like him to guard the area to prevent those with evil intentions from disrupting the Tang Dynasty again.

"Since Aung also said so, go ahead!"

Xue Bai waved his hand, and someone came and held Deng Jingshan down, dragging him away roughly.

Bai Zhongzhen, who was standing by, trembled all over when he saw this, fearing that Deng Jingshan would betray him and let Xue Bai know that the Saint was suspicious, and he would kill him with a sword in a rage.

Fortunately, Xue Bai was not interested in this eunuch, so he turned to Li Ji and made his previous suggestion again.

"The soldiers were full of vigor and enthusiasm, so they were inevitably impulsive and disturbed Grandfather. Grandfather is old, why should he go through all these hardships again? It would be better to return to Chang'an and take up a higher position."

Li Zhicai refused and said generously: "Although Lian Po is old, he can still eat. I am willing to die for the country!"

Nan Jiyun heard this and thought that if this "Lian Po" had not failed to defend Huliang Ferry, Bianzhou City would not have been besieged by the rebels. If he continued to serve and die, he would be the one to die.

Unfortunately, given his status, no one asked him, and he had no right to speak up on this occasion. So, he quietly stepped behind Xue Bai to show his support.

This little action frightened Li Zhi.

He thought of Nan Jiyun killing Helan Jinming, and was worried that he would also be killed, so he quickly looked at Li He. After all, Li He promised him that he would be safe this time.

So, when Xue Bai tried to persuade him again, Li He stepped forward and asked in a rather tough tone: "Prince Yong is forcing you so hard, could it be that my uncle and nephew have become your stumbling blocks?!"

"I have no such intention. However, it is also true that Aweng, as a clan member, was in charge of Henan and did not obey Li Guangbi's order, which led to the rebels' capture of Huliangdu. How could the imperial court use troops to suppress the rebellion and issue inconsistent orders?"

Xue Bai refused to give in, and spoke in a firm tone, even saying at the end: "Please ask Grandfather to return to the capital to serve as the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs. This is the will of the Saint. Do you intend to disobey me?"

Everyone then looked at Bai Zhongzhen.

Bai Zhongzhen had been privately lobbying the generals to join forces to deal with Xue Bai. Now he only needed to stand up and say "The saint has absolutely no such intention" to severely undermine Xue Bai's prestige and save Li Zhi.

Unfortunately, he dared to sneak around and make connections in order to seize the power of military supervisor, but he didn't dare to refute Xue Bai in order to protect Li Zhi.

Before everyone could look at him, he had already shrunk his neck and lowered his head, like a mouse looking for a crack in the ground. People who saw him would want to catch him as a thief, revealing the true nature of a eunuch.

Seeing this, Li Zhi felt angry and disappointed, and secretly wondered why the saint would use such a eunuch.

He had no choice but to look at Zhang Xun.

Zhang Xun did not hold a high position and had no say in the matter, but the whole city was filled with his subordinates and everyone still valued his attitude.

"Prince Yong is bent on weakening the power of the royal family in the local area, and I am afraid he may be plotting something." This is what Li Zhi said to Zhang Xun privately last night, and it is not entirely unreasonable.

But Zhang Xun also knew that Li Zhi disobeyed the order and wanted to protect himself, and it was also a fact that he was defeated by the rebels. If he was not punished to enforce military discipline, how would the emperor govern the country in the future?
After thinking about it, he made a decision and spoke after some hesitation.

Once he opened his mouth, Li Zhi and Xue Bai would respect his opinion, and that would be the result.

"How about we both take a step back?" Li He suddenly spoke.

As if fearing that Zhang Xun would support Xue Bai, Li He took the initiative and said to Li Zhi, "Uncle, the emperor wants to transfer you back to the court out of concern, but since he has not issued a clear decree, he must also want to allow you to continue to serve the country. How about this, uncle, please submit a petition to resign from the post of Henan Jiedushi, and divide the post into four."

"What does it mean to divide one into four?" Li Zhi asked.

Li He paced for two steps and said slowly: "There will no longer be a Jiedushi. Instead, there will be a Transport Envoy, a Criminal and Judicial Envoy, a Grain and Oil Envoy, and a Pacification Envoy. The Transport Envoy will be in charge of grain transport and measure the revenue of a route; the Criminal and Judicial Envoy will be in charge of cases of all sizes, inspect officials, and be responsible for judicial and prison affairs of a route; the Grain and Oil Envoy will be in charge of warehouses, markets, river crossings, water conservancy, etc.; the Pacification Envoy will be in charge of military affairs of a route."

Zhang Xun looked thoughtful, but turned his head to look at Xue Bai.

Xue Bai was smiling, but when he saw his gaze, he deliberately frowned, put on airs, and did not express his opinion.

"In this way, the power and duties will be divided into four groups, which will make things much easier for my uncle." Li He continued, "As for the selection of the four envoys, I would like my uncle to discuss it with Prince Yong. What do you think?"

Li Zhi thought for a while.

For him, this was not an unacceptable result. As the governor of Henan appointed by the emperor, he actually had a conflict of power with Yan Gaoqing, the governor of Dongdu appointed by the current emperor. This was also one of the reasons why Xue Bai wanted to get rid of him.

In other words, he could only exercise the power of the Jiedushi in the Qilu area in the eastern half of Henan Province, which was half the power. According to Li He's proposal, it was only half less, but he could still recommend candidates, which was equivalent to not losing out.

"can."

After Li Zhi expressed his opinion, everyone looked at Xue Bai.

"What does Prince Yong think?"

"I went to Henan this time, and the Saint gave me a few instructions." Xue Bai used the name of the Son of Heaven to say, "First, we must unify the orders. During wartime, local troops must obey the orders of the Marshal's Office and follow Li Guangbi's command to suppress the rebellion. They must not be stingy with their troops to protect themselves, refuse to support, or use their troops to establish their own regime. Second, the reason why An Lushan was able to rebel was that the Jiedufu controlled the power of the army, the people, the finances, and the law, and formed its own country. Such a situation must be stopped in the future!"

His tone was stern, and everyone looked solemn.

Bai Zhongzhen finally reacted and agreed, "Yes, that's what the saint said."

Li He asked, "Does Prince Yong agree?"

Xue Bai is still considering.

He paced a few steps, walked to Zhang Xun's map, stretched out his finger, gestured at the vast territory of Henan Province, and said: "In order to more effectively cooperate in suppressing the rebellion, I intend to divide Henan Province into three parts, setting Qizhou and Yanzhou as Shandong West Province, and Qingzhou, Mizhou and other places as Shandong East Province. What do you think?"

Of course Li Zhi refused.

Henan Province was originally so large, and it was suddenly divided into such small areas, which made it very troublesome to appoint officials and make various arrangements. His power and authority would also be greatly reduced.

Everyone then started arguing about this matter again.

After much difficulty, Xue Bai finally gave in and no longer divided the country into East and West Roads. He only set up one Shandong Road and appointed four envoys in each of Henan Road and Shandong Road, dividing Li Zhi's original power into eight.

Afterwards, they discussed the selection of seven local ambassadors.

During the process, Xue Bai made another concession and allowed Li He to move from the prefect of Guangling to the governor of Henan Province, further increasing his power.

Finally, everyone agreed that Li Zhi would take the lead in drafting a memorial and submit it to the court.

The memorial said that in view of An Lushan's rebellion, the Jiedushi had too much power, so he asked to resign to set an example for the whole country. In order to suppress the rebellion, he proposed a new local policy and asked the emperor to approve it...

~~
"High moral character! High moral character!"

After discussing the biggest military matter, everyone inevitably had to have a banquet and drink together that night.

The next batch of grain and fodder transported by Li He also arrived. The area under his rule was much richer, so he transported more grain and fodder, and thus they arrived more slowly.

Not only was all the grain transported this time new, but the people in charge of escorting the grain also surprised everyone.

Because it was Li Bai.

From the time Li Bai entered the city until the banquet, the loud laughter around him never stopped. His open-minded and free-spirited spirit made it seem as if there was a prosperous era wherever he went.

After hearing Li Zhi's memorial, Li Bai immediately praised it highly and praised Li Zhi's character.

"The high moral character of the King of Wu is truly admirable. I have a poem to dedicate to him!"

"Okay, Mr. Taibai, please!"

Li Bai held the wine glass in one hand and stroked his long beard with the other, and started drinking.

"The Prince of Huai loves Ba Gong, and they hold hands in the green clouds. The boy is honored to be a branch, and he also climbs the red osmanthus bush..."

After hearing this, Li Zhi couldn't help but smile, clapping his chopsticks and singing, feeling very happy.

He retained his power and position, and put his worries aside. Because of this poem, all the troubles brought by the previous intrigues and struggles faded away, and he was left with only wine, songs, and the joy of life.

"Ha ha ha ha."

At the end of the banquet, Li Zhi was helped to rest with a red face, and Judas couldn't stop laughing.

Xue Bai only drank half the cup. After Li Zhi left, he raised his cup and toasted Li Bai and Li He.

"Is it done?" Li Bai asked with a smile.

"Done." Xue Bai replied with a smile.

The two smiled at each other and looked at Li He together.

Li He rubbed his forehead, laughed and sighed, and finally said: "Don't let uncle know that we set this trap for him."

"It doesn't matter if you know it. It's for the sake of the Tang Dynasty."

"Come, have another drink." Li Bai stood up elegantly, snatched Xue Bai's cup, filled it up, and said with a smile: "Cheers to the Tang Dynasty!"

Looking back at the whole thing, Xue Bai started to communicate with Li He when Li Bai followed Li He to the north to transport grain and sent the first letter to Xue Bai.

From the very beginning, he expressed that he had no intention of eliminating the local royal family forces. On the contrary, he told Li He that in order to avoid local separatism and increase the prestige of the court, he hoped that knowledgeable people among the royal family would stand up and serve the country.

Afterwards, Xue Bai elaborated on his desire to weaken the power of the Jiedushi.

He said that the excessive power of the Jiedushi was the result of the emperor's laziness and inaction, which would cause endless troubles. Today's emperor is wise and intends to rectify the court and reform the accumulated problems.

On the other hand, Li He also got to know Xue Bai by asking Li Bai. He saw a Li Qian who was different from the "traitor who intended to usurp the throne" in the mouths of others, and believed that these proposals were beneficial to the Tang Dynasty, and of course, to Li He himself.

So they set up this trap to lure Li Zhi over and deprive him of his power.

But in the final analysis, Li Zhi was easy to talk to. After all, he was still a member of the Tang Dynasty royal family and had no ambition to secede. If it were a rebellious governor today, it is not impossible that he would rise up in rebellion under pressure.

What’s important is that this precedent was set.

With this example set, the imperial court had a basis for placing soldiers and generals in Hebei, and even for reducing the power of the military governors appointed during the Tianbao period.

~~
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily.

North of the Yellow River, Mengzhou, Shi Siming’s central military tent.

It has been some time since Yan Zhuang returned to the Yan army. Recently, he saw that Shi Siming had great talent and ambition, far surpassing An Lushan, whom he assisted in the past, and gradually he began to waver.

He thought about it and thought that although Xue Bai had ability, he was still young and had a shallow foundation, and could not compare with Shi Siming who had been working in the border army for decades. Not to mention that if he changed his camp, he might be able to play both sides.

The current situation is that the Yan army is gathering in large numbers and is in high spirits. They want to fight quickly, defeat Li Guangbi in one fell swoop, and take over the Eastern Capital for the New Year, but Li Guangbi is holding on to Heyang, fortifying the city, and is unwilling to fight. If Shi Siming's army crosses the Yellow River, Li Guangbi will surely attack his rear, making it impossible for him to advance or retreat.

It was the coldest time of the year and the city of Heyang could not be captured. The food and grass of more than 100,000 people had been consumed greatly and Shi Siming was urgently looking for an opportunity to fight.

However, the two troops he sent across the Yellow River from the east actually retreated.

The military meeting in the camp that day was to deal with this matter.

"Your Majesty, King Huai has returned to plead guilty."

Shi Siming was very strict with his eldest son. He nodded with a cold face, and someone immediately brought Shi Chaoyi in.

"Grandpa, I met Xue Bai..."

"Your Majesty!"

Shi Chaoyi had already found an excuse, but he was scolded as soon as he entered the tent, so he had to kneel down obediently. Two soldiers came over and took off his armor, and then Shi Siming picked up the horse whip and whipped him on the back.

"Pah!" Shi Chaoyi's skin was torn apart, his back hurt, and his heart hurt. He thought Shi Siming was too harsh on him.

After whipping him several times, he heard a soldier outside the tent say, "Your Majesty, Zhou Zhi comes to ask for forgiveness."

Shi Chaoyi, who was kneeling there, heard this and thought that Zhou Zhi was guilty of the same crime as himself and should be whipped as well.

Soon, Zhou Zhi entered the tent and said, "I was defeated in Bianzhou, and I ask Your Majesty to punish me. When I returned, I defeated Xu Shuji, the governor of Bianhua, in Huazhou, and I present him to Your Majesty."

Shi Chaoyi was waiting for Shi Siming to whip Zhou Zhi. He was shocked when he heard this. He didn't understand how Zhou Zhi could get more military merit when everyone was defeated together.

In fact, Huazhou was east of Bianzhou. Xu Shuji could no longer hold on and surrendered before the Yan army retreated. Zhou Zhi had no time to report it before he encountered Shi Chaoyi's defeat. He had to flee back to the north of the Yellow River with the captives and did not even take over the city of Huazhou.

Xu Shuji was originally a general of the Shuofang Army. At the beginning of the rebellion, he followed Guo Ziyi to Changshan. Later, he was ordered to Lingwu to meet Li Heng and was appointed as the Jiedushi of Bianhua. After Li Heng surrendered, the court in Chang'an certainly did not recognize this official position. Xu Shuji then ran to Huazhou and flattered Li Cong, but the court had no time to deal with him.

Nowadays, there are many Jiedushi in Hebei, Henan, Jianghuai and other regions that have never been heard of in the court of Chang'an. They were all appointed by Li Longji in Shujun and Li Heng in Lingwu.

Xu Shuji was worried about being punished by Xue Bai, so he surrendered when he saw the Yan army was strong. Shi Siming was very happy to see him, and immediately let Zhou Zhi make up for his mistakes.

Speaking of the Battle of Bianzhou, Shi Siming learned that Shi Chaoyi disobeyed military orders and sent troops to Luoyang without authorization, which led to his defeat by Xue Bai. Shi Siming picked up the whip and beat Shi Chaoyi again.

"Crack! Crack!"

Shi Chaoyi was waiting to be beaten together with Zhou Zhi, but he did not expect that he would bear all the blame alone. He was extremely sad and angry, and his heart was bleeding.

Seeing this situation, Yan Zhuang began to doubt Dayan's future again.

Shi Siming seemed to know the hesitation in Yan Zhuang's heart. When he convened the military meeting the next day, the gloom on his face had been swept away and replaced by a cheerful and open-minded expression.

"Mr. Yan is here? Try these jujubes first."

"Thank you, saint."

Yan Zhuang looked down and found several baskets of jujubes on the table. Each one was quite large. The jujubes matured in September and had been dried and stored until now. The skin was a little dry and wrinkled.

As far as he knew, the army did not originally have such fruits, so they must not have been transported from the north. Then they must have come from the south?
"I have heard that the jujubes from Xinzheng County are quite famous. I wonder if these are Xinzheng jujubes?"

"As expected, you are Mr. Yan." Shi Siming said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhuang bowed and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty."

"Why congratulate me?"

"Since Your Majesty has obtained the dates from Xinzheng, I believe you will soon be able to obtain the city of Xinzheng?"

"You will soon find out."

"Here."

As they were talking, Yan Zhuang had already noticed something was wrong between Shi Chaoyi and Zhou Zhi on the side. As the King Huai and the Prime Minister of Dayan, these two people used to be on par with each other, but today they were very far apart and did not even look at each other.

Shi Siming followed Yan Zhuang's gaze and noticed the disharmony between them. He frowned and called the two men forward.

"The great cause is about to be accomplished, but you are at odds with me. Do you want to ruin my great cause?"

"I dare not." Zhou Zhi responded with a salute.

Shi Chaoyi even fell behind in admitting his mistake, and reluctantly followed up, "My son doesn't dare."

This attitude seemed even more petty and unpleasant to Shi Siming. But now was not the time to punish him, so Shi Siming said, "If you two make peace and talk about business, I will give you this basket of dates."

At this point, he suddenly felt inspired to compose a poem.

It was well known that the Emperor of Dayan loved to compose poetry. When they saw him adjusting his robes and showing an elegant expression, everyone in the tent listened attentively. Yan Zhuang also held his breath, ready to praise him at any time.

After pondering for a moment, Shi Siming pointed to the basket of dates and spoke.

"A basket of jujubes, half orange and half red and purple. Half for King Huai and half for Zhou Zhi."

"What a poem!"

Yan Zhuang leaned forward and was about to speak, but because he didn't know whether this was a regulated verse or a quatrain, he hesitated for a moment and was half a step slower, and was beaten to the punch by Geng Renzhi.

"This poem may sound simple at first, but once you chew it, it is very wonderful." Geng Renzhi took two steps forward and talked about it. "This poem uses four and a half words. Although it does not mention that King Huai and Prime Minister Zhou should reconcile, its meaning is self-evident."

He walked over to the basket of dates and divided it into two parts, one containing light-colored dates and the other dark-colored dates. He gave them to Shi Chaoyi and Zhou Zhi respectively.

"This is a situation where you are in me and I am in you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Thank you, Father."

Shi Chaoyi took the dates and felt even more depressed.

Yan Zhuang followed up with a few words, but for such a short poem, everything that could be praised had already been praised by Geng Renzhi, so there was only so much he could say.

After reciting the poem, they finally got down to business.

"Do you know who sent these dates?" Shi Siming deliberately kept the question in suspense.

Of course, no one knew and they were all guessing. Shi Siming then signaled Zhou Zhi to speak.

"The credit for this matter still goes to Xu Shuji." Zhou Zhi said, "Xu Shuji was originally a general of Shuofang and a general under Guo Ziyi. You all know that Guo Ziyi supports Li Heng, and Li Guangbi supports Li Cong..."

After Xu Shuji was introduced and some past events were explained, the rest of the story was told by Xu Shuji.

Xu Shuji was a descendant of a famous family. His great-grandfather was a close classmate and friend of the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he had a smooth life since childhood and had never suffered any setbacks until he was forty years old. This time of surrender, he thought that he might be able to make another contribution to the founding of a country like his ancestor.

"Zhang Yongji, the general of the Tang army stationed in Xinzheng, was once my comrade-in-arms. We served under Guo Ziyi and were later transferred to Li Guangbi. Guo Ziyi was lenient in his military management, sympathetic to his soldiers, and treated his subordinates well. Li Guangbi was known for his harshness and strict military law. Zhang Yongji had complained to me about Li Guangbi a long time ago. Now that I have returned to Dayan, I have sent someone to contact him, and he is willing to work for Dayan."

Upon hearing this, the generals showed joy, knowing that the opportunity to defeat Li Guangbi had come.

Xu Shuji added: "Brothers in the Tang court are fighting for the throne. Many generals who originally supported Li Heng are now in a state of panic. We only need to let Zhang Yongji incite these people, and they will definitely turn against Li Guangbi and defect to Dayan."

Yan Zhuang's eyes flickered when he heard this.

For a moment, he wanted to quietly tell Xue Bai about this information, but then he thought that since there was such a traitor in Li Guangbi's army, there was no guarantee that there was no one around Xue Bai. If the news leaked out when he was passing on the information, it would put his life in jeopardy.

He had already been wavering, and now he was even more reluctant to act rashly.

~~
In this way, the Tang army had no way of knowing that Zhang Yongji had secretly communicated with the Yan army.

But they didn't know how strict Li Guangbi was in disciplining his army.

~~
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the weather was freezing cold.

Heyang is a small town on the north bank of the Yellow River, standing tall in the snow. Compared with the mighty army of the Yan army, it looks a little pitiful.

A troop of soldiers entered the city in the evening.

"Zhang Yongji, the commander of the Left Wing Army, has been ordered to deliver military supplies!"

Zhang Yongji put his hand to his mouth and blew out air, looking at the city wall, thinking about opening the city gate to welcome the Yan army.

To be honest, he really didn't want to join the rebels, but he had previously stood on Li Heng's side and felt uneasy about it, and he really couldn't stand Li Guangbi's harshness.

Always thinking about these things, he became somewhat careless about military affairs, and was actually one day late in delivering military supplies this time.

"Zhang Yongji, I ordered you to arrive in Heyang within three days. Why are you so late?!"

As soon as he entered the city, Zhang Yongji heard Li Guangbi's shout.

He didn't think much of it. The weather was bad and it was normal for him and his team of so many people to arrive one day early and one day late.

"It was cold, and many cattle and sheep froze to death, so we came late."

"I asked you why you came so late. What do you have to do with the frozen cattle and sheep?"

Zhang Yongji was stunned and asked, "Are you trying to make things difficult for me, Marshal?"

"Since you have received the military order, why are you late?"

Zhang Yongji's mind was not here. He rolled his eyes and stopped answering.

At this moment, he made up his mind to persuade several familiar generals to join the Yan army tonight, and work together inside and outside to get rid of Li Guangbi.

Although he kept this thought in his heart, he didn't know that his laxity, disdain, and "endurance" mentality constituted a serious crime that could not be forgiven in Li Guangbi's eyes.

What's more, Zhang Yongji has been complaining privately for a long time.

"Zhang Yongji was late in delivering grain, he contradicted the commander, and he shook the morale of the army." Li Guangbi shouted, "Take him away and execute him!"

"what?"

Zhang Yongji was stunned and furious. He shouted, "Li Guangbi, you are abusing your power for personal gain. You are deliberately seeking revenge on me because I am a general under General Guo Jie!"

Li Guangbi said nothing and watched the military judge drag the man away.

Many generals hurried forward to persuade him.

"General, the New Year is coming soon. It is not appropriate to kill the general on the battlefield."

"It's just a day late for festivals, why do you have to do this?"

"Yes, Marshal. It's not easy to transport military supplies in this snowy weather..."

Everyone thought that Zhang Yongji's mistake was just a minor one and did not warrant beheading.

Li Guangbi was unmoved, his face even colder than this winter, until he heard a "puff" sound and a head fell to the ground, then he said: "Hang the head on the city gate, and anyone who disobeys the military order will be beheaded."

He knew very well that many people in the army were distracted and if they were not deterred, the morale of the army might collapse at any time.

~~
The news of Zhang Yongji's death reached the Yan army.

Shi Siming was greatly surprised and wondered how Li Guangbi saw through his plan.

He then asked Xu Shuji to secretly contact the Tang army generals, but found that under Li Guangbi's strict military discipline, no one dared to waver, and it was difficult for Xu Shuji to contact anyone.

As a veteran who had also been on the battlefield for a long time, he quickly realized that Li Guangbi did not need to wait until he noticed Zhang Yongji's betrayal before starting the cleanup, but instead, with his keen sense of smell like a dog, he habitually eliminated unfavorable factors.

A so-called famous general will not wait until a crisis is discovered and then make up for it one by one. A famous general will try his best to prevent the crisis from happening.

Yan Zhuang was also startled and considered his situation again.

So he secretly wrote a letter, wrapped it in a wax ball, put it in the belly of a fish, and sent someone disguised as a fisherman to secretly deliver it to Yanshi...

Xue Bai had already returned to Luoyang when he received the letter.

He read the letter, glanced at it, and allowed Diao Bing to pick up the fish on the ground.

"Eat fish tonight, it's New Year's Day, may there be plenty every year."

This day happened to be the first day of the first lunar month, the second year of Yingshun and the fourteenth year of Tianbao. If it had not been for Xue Bai, the Anshi Rebellion would have broken out in this year.

(End of this chapter)