Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 530 Yanjing
"There's trouble outside the city again."

When Liu Xiangchang, the governor of Yanjing, saw Shi Chaoqing's 3,000 cavalrymen rushing out of the city gate, he couldn't help but sigh. But on the other hand, he also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the violent and terrifying atmosphere had eased a lot, and he could finally have a half day of peace.

He liked elegant things, so he returned home and called dancers to sing and dance for him.

The popular songs in Yanjing City all come from Xue Bai. Although this boy is an enemy of Great Yan, the Yan court does not ban his poems. After all, the Great Yan emperor likes poetry and is a famous poet.

The reason why Xue Bai is called "Xue Bai" here instead of "Li Qian" has a lot to do with his poems.

The song ends.

The dancer with bare snow-white thighs turned around and sang the last sentence in an independent manner.

"Suddenly looking back, that person is there, in a dimly lit place."

Liu Xiangchang clapped his hands in delight, picked up the golden cup and took a sip of wine, thinking of the past when he also had the ambition to help the world. But now he is living among the barbarians, doing beastly things. Looking back suddenly, he is filled with regret.

But when the sage captures Chang'an, captures great writers like Xue Bai, and teaches Dayan about poetry and books, it will be the same.

Thinking about these things while holding the golden cup in his hand, feeling the dancer touching his face with the gauze and smelling the faint fragrance, Liu Xiangchang was preparing to do something more elegant.

"Alang!"

Suddenly a report disturbed his interest.

"Li Guiren has retreated and returned, with more than a thousand cavalrymen knocking at the gates of the city."

"So fast?"

Liu Xiangchang hurriedly got up and rushed to the city wall. Looking down, he saw Li Guiren's flag but no one.

He frowned and refused to open the city gate. He only asked the soldiers to lower the hanging basket and let the messenger up to talk.

The messenger climbed up to the top of the city wall, handed over Li Guiren's order, and said, "Greetings to the garrison officer. Xiongwu City has not been defended, and the general is personally covering the rear. Please open the city gate and let us in to reinforce the defense."

Liu Xiangchang took the token and checked it, and it was indeed genuine. He thought for a moment, then beckoned the messenger to follow him a few steps to a secluded place to talk.

"First, tell me, how many officers and soldiers are there?"

"Tang general Feng Changqing led more than 5,000 Anxi cavalrymen and the rebel general Tian Chengsi's more than 10,000 Fanyang surrendered soldiers and rushed to the capital."

"You don't have to hide it from me." Liu Xiangchang said, "You are soldiers, right? If you are really under Li Guiren's command, how can you be so polite to me?"

He saw through the Tang army's trick of deceiving the city at a glance. Seeing that the other party did not answer, he continued: "You only have a thousand people, but there are tens of thousands of brave soldiers in Youzhou City. How can you control them after they enter the city?"

"According to Mr. Liu's opinion?"

"I have long intended to submit to the imperial court. If the imperial court can grant me the post of governor, I will give up the dark and join the light. In addition, I have a few small conditions..."

The envoy was unable to make a decision, so he went down the city wall and returned to the army, and reported Liu Xiangchang's intention to Zhang Guangsheng.

"Liu Xiangchang said he could surrender, but he couldn't let the general into the city, so as not to cause panic among the soldiers and civilians in the city. But he could block the city gates and prevent Shi Chaoqing from entering the city. When the royal army defeated the Shi father and son, he would change his flag and return to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the court only needed to appoint him as the Jiedushi of Fanyang, and he would ensure the stability of Fanyang."

Zhang Guangsheng sat astride the saddle and listened silently, his eyes gradually revealing displeasure.

He traveled thousands of miles to attack Fanyang, not to establish another Fanyang Jiedushi with his own troops. He had allowed his soldiers to go through life and death to reach this final step, so how could he allow others to reap the final results?

But he hesitated for a long time, then said: "Tell him that I promised him."

"General?"

"This is a serious matter." Zhang Guangsheng said, "I need to go to the top of the city wall and discuss it with him in person."

So the envoys went up to the top of the city wall twice, and after discussion, Liu Xiangchang allowed Zhang Guangsheng to go up to the top of the city wall with thirty guards.

In Liu Xiangchang's view, this was an unknown person and it was normal for him to be timid. Unlike him, he had to deal with the brutal and violent Hu generals for many years.

He did not take Zhang Guangsheng seriously, but was worried that Zhang Guangsheng was of low position and power and could not make decisions, so he threatened him a few times.

"Time is running out. When Shi Chaoqing comes back, he will annihilate you. As long as you agree to my conditions, I will lead the city back to Tang."

"It would be a blessing if Lord Liu is willing to submit," Zhang Guangsheng said, "The court will naturally reward Lord Liu for his great achievements."

Liu Xiangchang stroked his beard and smiled, then he inquired about the news from various places and asked, "Did Feng Changqing really take over Xiongwu City?"

"of course."

"Xiongwu City is strong and well-stocked. I didn't expect it to be conquered by soldiers so quickly."

"After the New Year, Shi Siming was defeated in Heyang. When Li Guiren heard the news, he became uncertain and his will to fight was no longer strong. In addition, we had the surrendered general Tian Chengsi leading the way. Tian Chengsi was familiar with a general in Xiongwu City, so he contacted him secretly."

Zhang Guangsheng then recounted in detail the experience of capturing Xiongwu City.

Liu Xiangchang also knew that Tian Chengsi had surrendered to Xue Bai at Xiangji Temple, so he asked, "What happened next?"

"Then, Tian Chengsi climbed up to the top of the city wall with the help of others..."

Zhang Guangsheng pointed at the city wall and talked about the siege situation at that time, and Liu Xiangchang leaned over to take a look.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed.

Zhang Guangsheng quickly drew out his knife, grabbed Liu Xiangchang's head with one hand, and cut his neck like killing a chicken.

"puff."

The blood gushed out, shocking the surrounding Yan soldiers.

But what was most intimidating was Zhang Guangsheng's confident demeanor. He was in the middle of the enemy camp, at risk of being hacked to death by the Yan army at any time, but he was very experienced in this regard, and with a glance of his cold eyes, he had already cut off Liu Xiangchang's head and held it high.

"The royal army has arrived. Surrender and you will be pardoned. Otherwise, you will be punished with death for treason!"

The surrounding Yan soldiers were shocked and surrendered one after another.

Zhang Guangsheng immediately ordered his men to open the city gates, allowing his troops to enter the city and take control of the west gate.

He immediately sent generals to capture the other three city gates.

Not long after, Xiang Runke, a trusted minister of Shi Siming left in the city, got the news and immediately ordered the brave general Xin Wannian to guard the palace and sent General Wei Minghe to retake the west gate.

The two sides then fought in the streets of the city.

Although Zhang Guangsheng was not afraid of Wei Minghe, time was passing by little by little. When Shi Chaoqing led his troops back, if he still could not control all the city gates, Shi Chaoqing would be able to enter the city through other gates.

~~
Along the Sanggan River, the grass is green and everything is revived.

More than a hundred horses were galloping wildly, with the things between their legs growing longer and longer, swaying back and forth.

They waded across the river in shallow water, and a group of mares were drinking water by the river. When they saw a male horse running towards them, some mares raised their hooves to show their rejection.

"Hey."

The stallion opened his mouth and howled to the sky, showing off his majesty. The mare allowed him to stretch his neck and come over to smell...

"Hahaha."

Shi Chaoqing was worried that his grandfather's beloved horse had run away, so he led people to chase it. When he saw this scene, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

In the distance, a woman washing clothes by the river was startled by the scene and picked up her wooden basin to run away. Shi Chaoqing rode forward, drew his bow and shot a woman down with one arrow.

While they were hunting, some fleeing soldiers from the west came running over and told them about the defeat at Xiongwu City and how the Tang army had chased and killed Li Guiren.

"Is this happening?!"

Before Shi Chaoqing figured out where the Tang army had gone, he suddenly heard the shouts of the grooms.

It turned out that someone on the other side of the river whistled and used his ponies to attract all the mares away, and his majestic stallions also followed him.

"Fell into a trap!"

Shi Chaoqing was furious and finally realized that something was wrong. He immediately sent people to get the horse back and turned around and rushed back to Yanjing City.

Running all the way, they saw from afar that the flag of the Tang army had been changed to that of the Yanjing city. The soldiers of Yanjing were immediately shocked and could not believe that the Tang army had taken over the city of Yanjing so quickly.

"You guys." Shi Chaoqing pointed at a few generals and shouted, "Take your men to check other city gates!"

Confident in his bravery, he rode his horse to the foot of the city, drew his bow and shot an arrow at a soldier guarding the top of the city wall.

Shooting from bottom to top at this distance, he actually hit someone.

"I am the Crown Prince of Dayan. If you dare to betray me, I will boil you into rotten meat!"

Many soldiers on the city wall who had just surrendered to the Tang army became nervous again and did not dare to shoot arrows at Shi Chaoqing.

The people had endured his brutality for a long time and were deeply afraid of him. Even if they wanted to resist, it was difficult to muster up the courage. The arrival of the Tang army today was an opportunity, but the Tang army was small and it seemed that people had not mustered enough courage.

Shi Chaoqing was able to show off his power and return to the battlefield.

After a while, his personal guard general Cao Minzhi rushed back and said, "Prince, the Tang army has captured the South Gate, but the East Gate is still resisting!"

"Follow me into the city!"

Shi Chaoqing rushed into the east city and found Xin Wannian fighting with the Tang army in the streets. He immediately led his troops to support him, and the two sides fought in Fanyang City.

By the evening, the Tang army was beginning to lose strength.

Shi Chaoqing couldn't help but feel very proud, thinking that he had extraordinary martial arts skills and was worthy of being Shi Siming's favorite son.

But the Tang army seemed very difficult to deal with. They were clearly surrounded, but they refused to retreat. The Tang general's flag pressed towards Shi Chaoqing several times. This made Shi Chaoqing feel dangerous and he didn't understand what the other side was confident of.

He then began to suspect that someone among his personal guards was secretly communicating with the Tang army.

Actually, he did those cruel things in the past because he felt that he was young and could not control others, and he had to make them afraid of him.

At this moment, a soldier rushed to his side and said, "Prince, Feng Changqing's troops have arrived."

"So fast?"

Shi Chaoqing felt that the Tang army was advancing swiftly and without losing a step, and he immediately felt a little uneasy.

No matter how cruel and violent he was in the past, he would quickly cower when faced with a tough opponent and said, "Retreat to the palace!"

This means giving up the outer city wall.

Once he gave up, he could only wait for Shi Siming to come back to rescue him. Fortunately, there was a lot of money and food in the palace, so Shi Chaoqing could hold on.

"Retreat!" he shouted fiercely, "Retreat!"

The order was passed to the front, where Yan army general Wei Minghe was fighting fiercely with the Tang army. Seeing the soldiers behind him retreating, he was caught off guard and hurriedly pulled the reins to retreat. With a "puff", the head fell to the ground.

"Kill! Kill!"

The Tang army shouted loudly and was very excited.

As the sound of war drums grew louder, a large army swept in from the west.

Feng Changqing's main force arrived in time, went straight into the city, and began to control Youzhou City.

As the main general of the Tang army, Feng Changqing's role in this battle seemed to be very small, and it was all thanks to Zhang Guangsheng's attack and capture of the city. But it is easy to kill people, but it is difficult to convince people. Since Feng Changqing captured Xiongwu City, he has been collecting surrendered soldiers and pacifying the people along the way, which has essentially stabilized the north and provided support for Zhang Guangsheng.

The two of them had been cooperating like this a long time ago.

At this evening, Zhang Guangsheng stood in Fanyang City, covered in blood, with murderous intent in his eyes. His anger did not subside because of the rebels' retreat, but became more intense.

He was already blood-thirsty, his mind was filled with past failures and humiliations, and he wanted nothing more than to kill as many people as possible.

At this moment, Feng Changqing gently patted his shoulder.

"Victory."

"Finally won."

Zhang Guangsheng's hand loosened, the knife fell to the ground, his eyes turned red, and tears began to fall.

Looking back at his life, he had had moments of glory. But he also fell into the dust, never recovered, suffered defeat after defeat, and survived only at the cost of his subordinates’ lives. He cut off his reputation, abandoned his name, and waited in the dark where no one knew.

No one can understand the torment he went through for today's victory.

There were countless times when he thought he would never win a battle again.

Feng Changqing was also very moved. He didn't remember Xue Bai's kindness for anything else, but Xue Bai's people rescued his old friend and benefactor in Tongguan, so he had to accept this favor. He picked up the knife on the ground and comforted him: "Don't kill him. This is not the Western Regions."

Zhang Guangsheng turned his head to the west and looked at the setting sun in the sky. Without saying a word, he walked towards that direction. Compared to boasting about his military exploits, he now prefers to watch the sunset alone... He's used to it.

~~
"Inform the people that the royal army will enter the city without harming anyone. Rebel generals and officers who surrender will be spared death, and those who hand over the rebel leader will retain their official titles."

Feng Changqing is different from Zhang Guangsheng. He has a different style. He is calm and considers the overall situation. After entering the city, he immediately issued a notice to reassure the people.

In his opinion, it was not important how many people were killed now. What was important was to pacify Fanyang as quickly as possible and lead the troops south to defeat Shi Siming. If the officers and soldiers could win a great victory, completely wipe out the rebellion, and restore the prestige of the court, the people of Hebei would be able to temporarily settle down.

At the same time, he also had a tough side, and issued an order: "Anyone who dares to take advantage of the chaos to rob and loot, regardless of whether they are Tang troops or rebels, will be killed without mercy!"

Once the city was in chaos, many rebels looted gold and silk and fled for their lives. Feng Changqing personally led his troops to kill them and hung their heads on the city gate to establish his authority.

With this combination of kindness and force, all the fights, big and small, soon stopped. By noon of the next day, the generals of Yanjing had all surrendered, and the outer city quickly fell under the control of Feng Changqing.

Only the imperial palace was still resisting.

Feng Changqing was not in a hurry. He counted the money and grain while maintaining order, and at the same time sent people to persuade Xiang Runke to surrender.

The messenger arrived at the palace wall and shot the letter of surrender into the palace.

Xiang Runke received the letter and summoned General Xin Wannian to discuss the matter.

"Feng Changqing had Shi Chaoqing killed and surrendered, saying that he would keep his official title, but he refused to keep the position of Zhongshu Shilang bestowed on me by the saint, and only restored my position as a judge in the Tang court. This is too much."

Although Xin Wannian had a Chinese name, he was actually a Hu person. In his early years, he was a slave in Queen Xin's family. Because of his bravery and loyalty, he was given the surname "Xin" and named this.

Seeing Xiang Runke like this, he also began to waver. Knowing that the Great Yan Kingdom was finished, he was not willing to surrender to the Tang court.

"I thought of a way out." Xin Wannian said suddenly.

Xiang Runke was overjoyed and asked hurriedly, "What?"

"puff."

Xin Wannian stabbed Xiang Runke's heart with a knife, leaving him with a dead end.

Afterwards, he cut off the head of this important official of Great Yan, summoned his generals, and said loudly: "I can't bear to see my brothers trapped to death, so I want to find a way out for everyone. Let's take Xiang Runke's head and ask the court for amnesty, how about that?"

"it is good!"

"But we can't just count on the Tang court's forgiveness. How can we put our lives in the hands of others?" Xin Wannian changed the subject and said, "All the treasures in the palace were taken back by our brothers with great efforts. We took the gold, silver and jewelry, and let our families flee to the border and take care of each other. How about that?!"

"Good! Good!"

The rebel soldiers under his command deserved to be louder.

Xin Wannian did what he said and immediately sent a group of his men to take Xiang Runke's head to incite the Yan army and create chaos.

He took advantage of the chaos in the palace and personally led people to rob the jewels.

These people rushed into the palace like wolves and tigers, and when they saw the palace maids, they jumped on them and stripped off their silk and even their jewelry. This made others think that the Tang army had already invaded the palace, and some knelt down to beg for mercy, or joined in the looting, hoping to have a good time before their death.

Shi Chaoqing was furious upon hearing the news, and shot and killed dozens of people in succession while standing in the main hall. However, no matter how much he had intimidated people in the past, he could not stop the chaos.

"Kill Shi Chaoqing!"

Suddenly, loud angry roars erupted from the crowd, instantly igniting certain emotions like dry wood meeting fire.

Many Yan soldiers turned around and rushed towards the hall. Their hatred for Shi Chaoqing even surpassed their greed for money.

Shi Chaoqing was frightened, dropped his bow, turned around and ran away.

Xin Wannian ignored all this and led his men to rob frantically. Each of them carried several bags of gold and silver. He was still not satisfied and rushed directly into Queen Xin's bedroom.

Empress Xin was talking to the Crown Princess today. When she saw the chaos, she scolded with a frosty face, "You are so bold, you dog slave! Have you forgotten who gave you a bite to eat?"

"You were born to be rich, so do I deserve to be grateful for every little gift you give me for the rest of my life?!"

In fact, Xin Wannian had already robbed enough money, but he still stepped forward and ordered his men to strip off all the silk from Xin and the Crown Princess, and looted the bedroom clean.

The cries were shrill.

No one expected that Shi Siming, a great hero of his time, would suffer such a great humiliation to his wife and children during his decisive battle with the Tang army.

"General, the Tang army has entered the palace from the Rihua Gate!"

"Let's go!" Xin Wannian said, "Let's go north."

The group hurriedly ran northward, the lights gradually dimmed, and finally they saw a small palace gate.

"Open the door!"

The palace gate slowly opened, and Xin Wannian grinned, as if he saw his future becoming a hero in the northern frontier.

However, what they saw head on were only neatly lined up Tang troops.

"Fire arrows!"

"Puff puff……"

Xin Wannian was hit by dozens of arrows in an instant, and fell to the ground with the soldiers around him, with gold, silver and jewels scattered all over the ground.

~~
Gao Ruzhen held a knife and walked through the many courtyards in the palace, looking for Shi Chaoqing.

When he saw footsteps near Xiaoyao Tower in front of him, he quickly walked over there.

Most of Shi Chaoqing's 3,000 personal guards had already fled, but at this moment a group of people were rushing towards Xiaoyao Tower from another direction and happened to meet Gao Ruzhen.

"General Cao."

Gao Ruzhen recognized the other person as Cao Minzhi, Shi Chaoqing's personal guard general and also his superior.

"It's you?" Cao Minzhi looked suspicious and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Gao Ruzhen subconsciously took a step back and said, "I'm looking for the prince and protecting him."

"Me too."

The two men looked at each other, Gao Ruzhen saluted, and planned to retreat.

Cao Minzhi suddenly said, "Let's go together."

Gao Ruzhen stopped and unconsciously tightened the long sword in his hand, becoming somewhat alert.

"I know you want to kill Shi Chaoqing." Cao Minzhi simply said, "Me too."

"I..." Gao Ruzhen was still worried that this was a test.

Cao Minzhi threw a knife to him and said, "I know that you secretly contacted the Tang army and leaked the news that Shi Chaoqing went out of the city to hunt. In fact, I have wanted to kill him for a long time."

Gao Ruzhen then grinned, picked up the knife on the ground, and followed Cao Minzhi's footsteps.

They walked into Xiaoyao Tower and used torches to dispel the darkness inside.

"Your Highness, we are here to protect you." Cao Minzhi said loudly.

Gao Ruzhen pursed his lips and looked around.

They climbed up the building floor by floor but failed to find Shi Chaoqing.

"Your Highness is fearless and there is no way he is hiding from us." Cao Minzhi said, "Since he didn't respond to me, he must not be here."

"Let's go."

"I am really worried about Your Highness. The Tang army has already attacked us. If we can't take Your Highness away, there will be no way to survive."

Cao Minzhi said this and sighed.

Just as they were about to leave Xiaoyao Tower, a voice sounded behind them.

"I'm here."

They turned around and found that Shi Chaoqing pushed away a floor tile and poked his head out from underneath.

"The Tang army has already attacked?"

"Not yet, I'm here to kill you!"

Cao Minzhi shouted loudly, stepped forward, grabbed Shi Chaoqing's hair, and pulled him out of the secret room.

Shi Chaoqing felt pain, cried loudly and begged for mercy.

"General, why do you want to kill me? My grandfather is still alive, and I have six brothers. What's the point of killing me?"

Cao Minzhi said: "I killed you not for merit. It's because you are cruel and inhumane, you deserve to be killed!"

Shi Chaoqing had never expected that the personal guards he had known day and night would repay kindness with hatred. He was so frightened that he cried, "I only beg the general to forgive me. I will definitely change and never dare to do that again."

A foul smell arose, and everyone couldn't help but laugh.

"He peed?"

Gao Ruzhen didn't even mind the dirtiness and reached out to touch Shi Chaoqing's crotch, which was indeed wet.

"You're such a coward, you think you're such a tough guy."

"I am a coward, I am such a coward." Shi Chaoqing looked down and cried, "This belt of mine is made of pure gold and I am giving it to the general. I only beg the general to spare my life."

Cao Minzhi sneered and said, "You don't have to send it. If you die, I will take it myself. In this Great Yan, what is there that we didn't take down for you?"

Gao Ruzhen also said: "I don't want your gold belt."

"Then what do you want...ah!"

Shi Chaoqing suddenly let out a shrill scream.

Gao Ruzhen actually crushed him to pieces.

The screams pierced the night sky, attracting more guards from the surroundings. However, these guards who came were paid by Shi Chaoqing, and what they said after they arrived was extremely treasonous.

"Don't let him die too easily."

"Let's kill each of them with a knife."

"Boil him."

"Then cut it up and cook it..."

~~
The moonlight shone on the mountains of gold, silver and jewelry.

Feng Changqing stood in front of the mountains of gold and silver, smelling the strong smell of blood in the wind, and his eyes began to turn red again.

Gao Xianzhi once said that he was so easily moved that he could not be a good general. A general would die in battle and would be heartless and heartless. But he said that it was precisely because he was always compassionate that he wanted to be the best general.

He never established his authority by killing people. He was powerful without being angry, because his anger was directed at the heaven and earth. He was angry at the heaven and earth for being unkind and treating all things as straw dogs.

"Marshal Jie, we found Shi Chaoqing!"

"take me."

Feng Changqing strode into the main hall.

From a distance he could see many rebels gathered around a large cauldron, making a fire and boiling water. They did not surrender to him, but instead tied up a man and cut off pieces of his flesh and threw them into the cauldron to rinse it.

The tied man's legs had been shredded to the point that only a bloody skeleton was left, but he was not dead yet and was crying weakly and miserably.

Many Tang army soldiers could not bear to watch this scene and wanted to step forward to stop them, but Feng Changqing raised his hand to stop them.

He just stood there, looking at this cruel scene, as if he saw an even more cruel and chaotic world through it, and he muttered to himself.

"It's time to finish."

But there is one last battle. On the banks of the Hutuo River, the main forces of the two armies are confronting each other. Feng Changqing must lead his troops to provide support as soon as possible, defeat Shi Siming in one fell swoop, and completely end this chaotic world.

(End of this chapter)