Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 601 The strong wind knows the strong grass

On the banks of the Xiwei Bridge outside Chang'an, inside the commander's tent of the Konghe Army camp, the atmosphere was solemn.

The numerous generals of the Control Crane Army looked at each other, and everyone was feeling very nervous.

"Everyone, we have killed the imperial envoy. What should we do now?"

Li Huaiguang looked around at the generals and asked.

Killing eunuchs, especially those who came to entertain the troops, was no small matter.

The eunuch himself is not worth mentioning, but he represents the emperor's face. The seriousness of the situation should not be underestimated!
It's not like you can just say "my hand slipped" to get away with it.

Everyone present fell into an awkward silence. If this matter could not be properly resolved, the consequences would be extremely serious.

Generally speaking, there are only two options.

Or, kneel down before those dog officials in Chang'an and wait for them to "kill the chicken to scare the monkeys". They may even wipe out some of the rewards promised before.

Or... When everyone present thought of this, they couldn't help but tighten the hilts of the swords at their waists, and their eyes became ferocious.

A real man should live a glorious life! Why would he kneel down and beg for mercy from those weak scholars?

Want to talk about reason? The knife in your hand is reason!

At this moment, right and wrong no longer mattered to everyone in the military tent. And no one would listen to reason now.

It is better to strike first. Anyone who is naive and childish at this time does not take his own life seriously!
"I have made up my mind, and I will charge into Chang'an City immediately.

There is plenty of wealth in the homes of those noble families and in the imperial palaces.

Since Yan Gaoqing won't give us the reward, then we'll get it ourselves!

What do you think? "

Li Huaiguang drew out his sword and swept his eyes across the eyes of everyone present. He was young and energetic, with an unparalleled spirit.

Anyone who dares to say "no" at this moment should not blame him for disregarding the comrades' friendship.

"We will obey the commander's orders!"

All the generals knelt down together, saluted him with fists clasped, and shouted to the sky!

No one is stupid. At this critical juncture, who in the court and the emperor would listen to their explanations?

If they were the emperor, they would definitely take action if they encountered such a situation.

What else is there to talk about?

These bastards should draw their swords and ask those bastards in the imperial court whether they are making sense!
When everyone stood up, one of the ten generals whispered, "General Jie, if we take those treasures, Li Heng, the dog emperor, and Yan Zhenqing, the traitorous ministers, will definitely not let us go afterward. What should we do if they come to settle accounts with us in the future?"

"Yes, then we will definitely be classified as a bandit army."

"You can prevent it for a while, but you can't prevent it forever!"

Several generals stood up and interrupted.

They were not on the side of the court or the emperor, they just wanted to know how the robbery in Chang'an would end.

Many people hold grudges. How can we guarantee that they will not seek revenge in the future?

But Li Huaiguang was very calm.

He said to everyone:

"The late emperor still has descendants living in the Ten Kings' Residence. We can capture a member of the royal family and help him become the emperor.

By then we will be the imperial guards, who would dare to disobey?

At that time, we can just label Yan Zhenqing and his men as traitors and arrest and kill them. What's wrong with that?"

Eh?
That seems to be the truth.

But who should I choose?

One of the ten generals suggested to Li Huaiguang: "Prince Sheng Li Qi is Li Heng's brother from the same mother. I heard that he has not been sent out and should still be in Chang'an. Let's support him to take the throne! What do you think?"

Li Qi was also born to Concubine Wu Huifei, so the idea of ​​making Li Qi the emperor was not impossible.

"That makes sense. You are responsible for this matter. Take two hundred brothers and go directly to the Tenth King's House to arrest him!"

Li Huaiguang ordered.

At this time, Zhang Shao also came in and reported to Li Huaiguang and the others: "General, just now some of the imperial guards wanted to escape back to Chang'an to inform the authorities. As a last resort, I had to order them all to be killed to prevent future troubles."

After hearing this, everyone present showed a disdainful expression on their faces, as if to say "if he dies, he dies".

After killing the eunuch, there was no turning back for the soldiers of the Konghe Army.

Anyway, killing the eunuchs is the same as killing the imperial guards. There is no difference, so let it be.

What about killing Emperor Li Heng and all the officials in Chang'an?
How about killing them?
It seems audacious and unbelievable on the surface, but in fact it doesn't matter.

It has come to this point. Even if some people don't want to participate, they have no choice. They can only follow the mutinous people and go all the way to the end!
Now the 8,000 soldiers of the Konghe Army have only one way to go, that is to mutiny! Kill their way through Chang'an!
A gold belt for murder and arson, but no corpses for repairing bridges and roads!

As long as they kill their way through Chang'an, establish Li Qi as the new emperor, and then let the new emperor issue an imperial edict, they will be "whitewashed"!
By then, the traitors will be Yan Zhenqing and his gang!

All you need to do is keep throwing dirty water on these people, and then naturally there will be great scholars who will argue for them.

"General Jie, let's do it! We can't hesitate any longer. If we miss the opportunity, we will all die!"

Zhang Shao knelt down on one knee and asked Li Huaiguang for instructions with a fist salute.

He had come up with this plan, but he hadn't expected it to turn out to be so big.

Zhang Shao originally just wanted to have the Konghe Army stationed outside Chang'an for a long time to buy time and force Yan Gaoqing and others to surrender.

The Control Crane Army could afford to delay, but the ministers and officials of the court could not. Every day of delay would cost a lot of military rations.

It is inevitable that the imperial court will surrender at that time.

However, there was still a "small accident" in the plan.

When Zhang Shao saw the inferior silk sent by the court as "rewards for the troops", he got so angry that he lost his mind and killed the eunuch who came to convey the court's order.

He regretted after killing someone, but unfortunately the eunuch was already dead, so what was the use of regretting?
Active remedy is the real thing! If one person can't bear such a big pot, then drag all the people in the Control Crane Army into the water, and let's bear it together!

Zhang Shao knew that he had caused a big disaster, so he simply made the matter bigger, until the point where Li Huaiguang had to get involved, and tied all the members of the Konghe Army to the chariots.

Following this road till the end is the last way to survive.

"Everyone, there is no way out now, let's do it!

I will now start deploying tasks, and everyone must do their best!

The Imperial City, Daming Palace, Xuanwu Gate, the Ten Kings' Residences and other places must all be under control.

I give you half an hour to inform your own troops. Tell them that the imperial court wants to execute all of us, and the only way to survive is to fight. Anyone who tries to make peace with the imperial court, no matter who they are or what their official position is, will be killed without mercy!"

Li Huaiguang's eyes were already red, and he swept his sharp gaze across everyone's face and began to issue military orders.

……

Neither Yan Gaoqing nor Yan Zhenqing personally delivered the silk to the Konghe Army camp, for no other reason than that they did not want to escalate the situation.

They knew that they had offended those soldiers, so it was best to stay out of the situation and deal with it coldly.

It would be more appropriate to have the eunuchs come forward and let the emperor Li Heng act as a "middleman" to mediate than for them to be rude at first and respectful later and go to the military camp to "appease" the soldiers.

As the team leader, Li Huaiguang should know what are the priorities.

After returning to the Council Hall from the Daming Palace, Yan Zhenqing had been waiting for news, and the longer he waited, the more he felt something was wrong.

Too slow, the eunuch should have come back to report. Li Heng was not the real emperor, and the eunuchs who finished their work had to report to the Council of State first.

Suddenly, Yan Zhenqing saw a large group of imperial guards passing by the gate. They seemed to be coming from the direction of Xuanwu Gate and entering the imperial city. Leading them was none other than Guo Ziyi, the chief of the imperial guards.

"Mr. Yan, why did the Crane Control Army enter the city? Why are they attacking the Imperial City?
The Ministry of War didn't notify you before?" Guo Ziyi, who rushed to the Council Hall, shouted to Yan Zhenqing anxiously.

"What's the matter?"

Yan Zhenqing was confused and didn't understand what was going on.

"Mr. Yan, there's no time to talk. Follow me up to the tower! Quick!"

Guo Ziyi, dressed in military uniform, grabbed Yan Zhenqing's sleeve and ran. The two ran up to the tower of the imperial city as fast as they could and saw a scene that made Yan Zhenqing terrified.

The hastily assembled imperial guards, dressed in red uniforms, were trying to resist the elite troops of the Konghe Army who were pouring in from outside the Jinguan Gate with an unstoppable force.

But the imperial guards' defense line was like a poor quality dam; they were defeated step by step and soon collapsed.

There were corpses all over the ground.

Chunmingmen Street was more than 100 meters wide. The cavalry of the Control Crane Army on horseback had bypassed the gap in the defense line and rushed through the Suzaku Gate! Heading towards the Ten Kings' Residence.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. When the Konghe Army launched the charge, Guo Ziyi was patrolling near the Suzaku Gate with a team of troops.

Seeing that the Konghe Army had mutinied, Guo Ziyi didn't think about anything and rode directly to the imperial city to notify the gate guards to quickly close all the gates of the imperial city.

Afterwards, he sent out a messenger to order all the guards on duty to gather in front of the Council of State and the six ministries (the two were very close to each other) in the imperial city! Guard the surroundings of the yamen!

Then send someone to notify the imperial guards who are still on duty (slacking off) in the Western Inner Courtyard to immediately block the Xuanwu Gate and concentrate and deploy defenses in the area where the central government offices are located!
The imperial guards have already gathered together, block Chunmingmen Street as soon as possible!
As for those imperial guards who were resting at home, they could not be contacted at all.

The newly formed Imperial Guards and the brave and combat-savvy Control Crane Army began to carry out their respective military tasks almost at the same time. However, the quality of the Imperial Guards was far inferior to that of the Control Crane Army.

Even though every order from Guo Ziyi was at the most critical and correct step, it still failed to stop the sudden attack of the Control Crane Army. The quality of the soldiers was too poor. Most of the soldiers in the Control Crane Army were fearless and had experienced many fierce battles and were extremely experienced.

It’s no problem to deal with those new recruits at one versus two.

Looking at the black military uniforms and shining weapons outside the imperial city, Yan Zhenqing, who was watching the battle on the palace wall, almost couldn't stand steadily!
The Konghe Army actually mutinied! They actually dared to mutiniate in Chang'an City!
This is rebellion!
Li Jiaqing and Li Huaiguang had negotiated the conditions for sending troops with the prime minister some time ago.

They actually dared to go back on their word and mutinied on the day the army was about to march out! These soldiers were already lawless and extremely vicious!
Yan Zhenqing cursed these traitors in his heart, but he was helpless.

If you want to reason with someone holding a knife, you should only go forward and try if you also have a knife in your hand.

Now there is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that due to Guo Ziyi's timely discovery and precise response, the imperial city was temporarily closed.

This also means that the Control Crane Army is temporarily unable to enter the Imperial City, and the lives of the central officials working there are temporarily safe from danger.

The bad news is that the Daming Palace was not sealed in time! The rebels could enter at any time!

Moreover, the defense of the imperial city was not strong. There were various gates of different sizes and more lice than lice on a buffalo.

The Konghe Army can break through any of them and break in.

Not every door among these is strong!

From now on, it's a race against time! Whether the Konghe Army can successfully mutiny depends entirely on how Yan Zhenqing and his men respond.

"General Guo, what do you think we should do now?"

Yan Zhenqing felt dizzy and asked while holding onto the city wall.

To be honest, he is over 50 years old this year and is not young anymore.

In the current situation, if the imperial guards stationed in the imperial city are still the imperial guards during the reign of Emperor Taizong, then it is not a big problem. All we need to do is to fight our way out of the imperial city and kill those mutineers.

Although Chang'an will be in chaos for a while, it will soon calm down.

But the current imperial guards had only been trained for a few months, and were all the sons of merchants and street people recruited from Chang'an. It was a miracle that they could remain calm in the face of danger, obey orders, and not flee or scatter.

Yan Zhenqing guessed that these people were probably locals whose families lived in the city. They were worried about the rebels' recklessness, so they didn't dare to run around.

But being able to do this is already the limit.

We expected these new recruits to fight with the hardened warriors of the Konghe Army... but the result happened right here on Chunmingmen Street.

The unfortunate ones who became corpses lying motionless on the ground, wearing the red uniforms of the Imperial Guards, were role models.

"Go out of the Xuanwu Gate from the Western Inner Courtyard and head directly to Xianyang, then close the city gates and defend it.

Mr. Yan and the officials can go separately, but Guo still has to go to the Daming Palace to rescue the emperor.

That’s all I have to say. Please take care of yourself.”

Guo Ziyi clasped his fists and bowed to Yan Zhenqing.

"well!

The strong wind knows the strong grass, and the rough waves know the loyal ministers.

Today, I witnessed General Guo's loyalty to the country, and I was deeply moved. "

Yan Zhenqing burst into tears and bowed to Guo Ziyi. He was so excited that he didn't know what to say.

"Mr. Yan, there is no need to be so polite. I will leave now. Please take care of yourself."

After saying this, Guo Ziyi turned around and left alone to gather his trusted followers.

Although most of the imperial guards are now untrained losers, there are still some border troops among them who were originally under Guo Ziyi's command, and they have now generally been promoted.

If we gather them together, we can probably get several hundred people together, and there might be a chance to turn the tide.

Of course, Guo Ziyi's plan to turn the tide was to bring Li Heng to Xianyang County to temporarily avoid the limelight.

Given the current situation in Chang'an, probably only Emperor Taizong or Fang Youde himself can come and clean it up.

There is nothing others can do.

Guo Ziyi walked down the tower, drew his sword, and shouted to all the soldiers: "Brothers from Liangzhou, follow me! Let's go to Daming Palace to rescue the emperor!"

However, to his disappointment, only a dozen or so imperial guards officers came out one after another, while the others were indifferent.

Many of them were not new recruits at all, but "old brothers" who had served in Liangzhou and worked beside Guo Ziyi.

That's it?

Guo Ziyi's face showed disappointment that was hard to conceal.

Military generals should be loyal to the country, loyal to the court, and serve their country wholeheartedly.

This is the principle of eating the emperor's food and sharing his worries.

But now, many people have changed their minds. For them, their own lives are more important.

In front of the murderous soldiers of the Konghe Army, they backed down and were unwilling to risk their lives for the court.

They think it’s not worth it!

"If you want to go, follow Guo. If you don't want to go, do as you please!"

Guo Ziyi walked towards the Hanguang Hall in the Western Inner Courtyard angrily. There was a long and narrow alley with a small door at the end that led directly to the Zichen Hall in the Daming Palace.

This path was also the "green channel" used by important officials during the reign of Emperor Gaozong when they went to see Emperor Gaozong or Empress Wu to discuss important matters in secret.

To the north of the Zichen Hall is the Chongxuan Gate, which leads directly out of Chang'an City.

I hope I can make it in time, Guo Ziyi muttered to himself.

After rescuing Li Heng, they would retreat to Xianyang and call on the troops from all over the country to come to the rescue. As for how many people he could gather, he had no idea.

Marshal Fang, who was loyal to the Tang Dynasty, and his own troops, turned out to be the leaders of the mutiny.

Guo Ziyi could not hide his grief.

The dozen or so old subordinates followed behind him, and their figures looked somewhat desolate and tragic.

(End of this chapter)