Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 654 Seemingly Winning
On the top of Hangzhou City, Che Guangqian raised his "improved telescope" and looked into the distance. There seemed to be smoke and dust rolling over there. According to his experience, there must be an army fighting.

Although the telescope was "invented" by Fang Chongyong, due to its relatively low technical content and simple principle, the technology is iterating very quickly.

Even though he did not participate in it later, the "second generation" of telescopes came out.

Crystal lenses, as a material with almost no defects, replaced the colorless glass used by Fang Zhongyong in his previous life. Apart from being a bit expensive, they were almost easy to manufacture.

It was only after Che Guangqian went to Dengzhou that he discovered that some people on the ship were using telescopes that were more useful than the "original" in his hands.

He also had to sigh that there were so many smart people in the world.

"There is a lot of commotion in the bandit camp outside the city."

After saying that, Che Guangqian handed the telescope to Liu Wenxi, and then she folded her arms and fell into deep thought.

As Hangzhou was under siege, it was no longer safe for scouts to enter and exit.

In addition, the soldiers and horses were very tired after fighting on the outside many times before. At this time, it was really not suitable to go out of the city to provide support.

"General Che Jie, I think it is better to defend Hangzhou City."

Liu Wenxi muttered softly.

The enemy army set up their main camp five miles to the north. To be honest, if they sent troops at this distance, they could not guarantee a safe return to the city. The main reason was that they had already won many battles before, and it was not worth it to send the whole army out to attack now.

"That makes sense. All troops must wait in the city and not move rashly. Anyone who violates this will be treated as collaborating with the enemy."

Che Guangqian thought about it, and finally nodded and issued a military order.

They had been watching the battle from the tower, but they couldn't see it clearly. Although it was unlikely that the government troops would be defeated given the current battlefield situation, who could tell what would happen in an extreme situation?
Even if something is almost certain, there is still a chance of something happening!
So Che Guangqian and Liu Wenxi just patiently looked into the distance and never sent out scouts to investigate the situation.

It was not until after noon, when the battle in the distance ended, that they saw many defeated soldiers without uniform military uniforms coming from the north and swarming to the south.

Those were the bandit troops under Yuan Chao's command.

When they were crossing the main bridge between Hangzhou and West Lake, they pushed each other and many people fell into the water. The government cavalry on horseback chased them desperately, hacking and killing them all the way.

The entire battlefield was in chaos with everyone chasing each other.

This kind of fight is more like a father beating his son. There is no beauty at all, and it even looks a bit brutal.

Che Guangqian stood expressionlessly on the top of the city wall, looking at the so-called bandits below the city, who fled in panic and were then dispersed by the defenders in the city with bows and arrows. She couldn't help but frown slightly.

To be honest, defeating such an opponent on the battlefield is nothing to brag about. When the bandits passed through the border, the whole place was in chaos, and the villagers suffered the most.

"Yuan Chao, the traitor, has come at the right time."

Liu Wenxi said with a long sigh.

Che Guangqian looked at him thoughtfully, didn't say much, just nodded slightly.

Chaos is the ladder to advancement. Liu Wenxi is a pure warrior, good at fighting, but other than that, he is unremarkable.

People like him would hardly have a chance to stand out in peacetime.

But now it's a time of war, and warriors can be used everywhere. As long as they don't die on the battlefield, they will always have the opportunity to stand out.

Liu Wenxi led his troops to sweep almost all of the east of Taihu Lake this time, and his military exploits were outstanding. Of course, he hoped that there would be more bandits like Yuan Chao.

Read as traitor and written as military achievement, which military general would not like such a thing?

"If one day, the world is truly at peace and people from all over the world come to pay tribute, what will you do?"

Che Guangqian asked meaningfully.

"If you don't have any success, then just keep on chopping people with your knife. There will always be people who need to be chopped."

Liu Wenxi answered without hesitation.

His answer did not surprise Che Guangqian.

If a country does not need war, then military generals will never have a chance to rise to prominence.

This situation is like if no one is sick, then medical officers will not be respected, and even getting enough food will be difficult.

Perhaps, some people do not want peace in the world, and there are quite a few such people!
Che Guangqian thought to herself.

At this time, someone shouted from below the city: "General Che, our army has defeated the enemy army. Here is the order from General Fang. I will shoot it onto the city wall!"

Just as he finished speaking, an arrow with a letter tied to it was shot onto the top of the city wall by a bow.

The personal soldier picked it up and brought it to Che Guangqian.

"General Che Jie, this is the commendation order from General Fang, but I don't know how much reward he will give."

Liu Wenxi was just like his name, with a look of joy on his face and he was eager to try it out, wishing he could open the letter himself.

Che Guangqian smiled bitterly, waved her hand gently and opened the letter. Then her smile became more and more bitter, and finally turned into a long sigh.

"Jie Shuai, isn't this a reward?"

Liu Wenxi looked incredulous, but from Che Guangqian's expression he knew that this letter was definitely not a good thing.

"It's not like there's no reward. Just look for yourself."

Che Guangqian handed the letter to Liu Wenxi.

As expected, Fang Zhongyong directly questioned in the letter: I asked you to defend Hangzhou, when did I ask you to fight back? Now you have scared away half of the enemy troops, and it is good enough to swallow the enemy troops in Huzhou, what do you think we should do?
Uh, how should I put it?

Faced with this situation, Liu Wenxi didn't know how to comfort Che Guangqian for a moment.

You know, this battle is related to Che Guangqian's promotion to Huainan Jiedushi! Now it seems that I can't go to Yangzhou.

In fact, Che Guangqian had already anticipated such a result. When he rushed to Huating County by ship, he knew that the fighting effectiveness of the so-called rebel army was much worse than they had originally expected.

Che Guangqian's plan was to treat the rebels as government troops. In fact, due to the great problems of the rebels' organization and morale, it was easy for them to collapse and "flee in a hurry".

Basically, once you step back, you can't stop.

"Never mind. In Che's opinion, we should guard Hangzhou and suppress the bandits at the same time."

Che Guangqian sighed and said that he also understood that although he did not lose the battle this time, he had messed things up.

According to Fang Chongyong's usual working style, it must be "whoever made the mess should clean it up."

Therefore, the next step should be to establish the Zhejiang East Observation and Disposal Office in Hangzhou, implement military control, and suppress the rebellion in the long term.

"Tell someone to prepare the banquet. He Changqi and his gang will bring their troops here to rest later."

Che Guangqian said with regret that he had lost his position as the Jiedushi of Huainan, and it would be a lie to say that he was not sad.

"I will do it now."

Liu Wenxi responded, also looking listless.

……

In response to the sudden situation on the battlefield, Fang Chongyong acted decisively and carried out a strategic encirclement in advance!
He Changqi led his troops by sea, landed in Yanguan, and headed straight for Hangzhou.

They encountered the main force of Yuan Chao's army north of Hangzhou.

Since Yuan Chao's army had taken in many rebel soldiers who had retreated from Suzhou, which affected the overall morale, they were almost defeated after coming into contact with the elite government troops led by He Changqi, who were mainly the Silver Spear Xiejie Army!
Part of the rebel army retreated westward to Huzhou, where they fought stubbornly; part of them retreated to Kuaiji, and another part of them died in the chaos.

The morale of the bandit troops in Yuhang and Xiling also collapsed, and they opened the city walls and surrendered. Those who did not trust the government troops fled and disappeared.

The villages near Hangzhou were in great trouble, as a large number of bandits swept in, robbed things and ran away, and some even committed murder and arson. The people fled to the mountains and forests, and the rice in the fields was ripe but no one harvested it.

Of course, there are still small groups of bandits roaming around.

Some of the rebels went west to Yuqian and fled to Shezhou, where they joined the rebel Fang Qing. Some of the rebels went south to Wuzhou (Jinhua, Zhejiang), but fearing that they would be attacked from behind, they took the mountain road into the forests of Kuazhou (Lishui, Zhejiang).

Originally, the troops under Yuan Chao's command were centralized and organized. After this battle, they were broken into two large pieces and more than a dozen small pieces, just like a walnut being broken by a hammer.

The remnants of the two bandit armies, numbering tens of thousands, gathered in Huzhou and Kuaiji, respectively, and fought stubbornly. The other bandit troops, numbering as many as one or two thousand or as few as a few hundred, roamed around in many counties and prefectures south of Kuaiji.

In this way, the first phase of the Jiangnan rebellion suppression operation ended.

If we were to say whether this battle was won or lost, we would say it was definitely won. Not only won, but even a complete victory.

However, in Fang Chongyong's opinion, the biggest regret of this battle was that the enemy army was not wiped out in one fell swoop.

After the war, Che Guangqian was awarded the title of Observation Envoy of East Zhejiang and Military Envoy of Hangzhou, and was in charge of the "suppression of bandits" in Hangzhou and the five states to the south of Hangzhou, namely Yuezhou, Mingzhou, Taizhou, Wenzhou, and Kuazhou. As for civil affairs, the court would naturally send people to assist him. Although the area under his management was not small, it was not as good as the Jiedushi of Huainan.

After all, today's Hangzhou is far from as prosperous as it was in the late Tang Dynasty when Taihu Lake was developed on a large scale and river embankments were built on a large scale, and it has just experienced war.

The difficulty of its governance can be imagined.

Not only that, we will have to suppress bandits in the future. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt!
But to say that there was no reward would be unfair to Fang Chongyong.

The position that Che Guangqian currently holds is undoubtedly much bigger than her previous management of Dengzhou.

Fang Chongyong's performance evaluation is fair and strict. He clearly knows what should be given and what should not be given.

The first phase of the battle ended, and the government troops had no time to clear the territory on a large scale. Fang Chongyong, with the attitude of "kill you while you're sick", quickly issued military orders to start the second phase of suppressing the rebellion.

That is to say, it is the stage of eradicating the enemy completely and not giving the enemy army a chance to recuperate.

According to the military order issued by Fang Chongyong, Wang Nande led his troops to attack Changcheng County to squeeze the living space of Yuan Ying's bandit army. He Changqi led his troops to attack Wukang, Linxi and other places south of Huzhou.

As the main attack, the bandit army was driven into Huzhou City.

After the two armies joined forces, they besieged Huzhou!

Che Guangqian and Liu Wenxi attacked Kuaiji in a hurry, not giving the rebel army a chance to adjust their deployment.

As the second phase of the battle began, the bandit troops under Yuan Ying were quickly surrounded in Huzhou City and were trapped in the city, unable to move.

The rebel army in Kuaiji, without any leader, was defeated by Che Guangqian. The rebel army retreated again and again, losing Kuaiji, Yuyao, Cixi and other places one after another, and finally had to retreat to Ninghai, Taizhou.

Yuan Chao, who fled to his hometown of Taizhou with dozens of cavalry, finally ran to Linhai, Taizhou, where the uprising started, to command and dispatch the troops. He also took in the defeated rebel troops and planned to regroup.

When Yuan Chao learned that the government troops had reached the vicinity of Ninghai, he quickly led his troops to Ninghai to deploy defenses and finally stabilized the situation.

The battle situation in Huainan and Jiangsu and Zhejiang spread to Bianzhou, which made Emperor Li Lin very anxious!
If it was useful, he would burn incense and pray to Yuan Chao every day, hoping that this commander of the rebel army could show his power and teach Fang Chongyong a lesson.

How could this happen? Fang Zhongyong actually won victory after victory and expanded his territory.

Li Lin was very surprised and envied Fang Chongyong's good luck. Those peasant soldiers in the bandit army were really too incompetent.

Seeing Fang Chongyong growing stronger, Li Lin felt extremely worried and sad.

Needless to say, he had no chance to interfere with the personnel arrangements in these territories. Fang Zhongyong had the final say in everything.

the reason is simple.

Only if Fang Zhongyong fails in the war will a powerful general think of Emperor Li Lin and accept his control.

Only in this way could Li Lin interfere with military power.

Only after obtaining some military power can one begin to interfere in administrative and personnel arrangements.

Only then can we place our own people in place like a snowball.

And then slowly take back power.

To achieve these, Fang Chongyong's continuous defeats on the front line are a necessary condition.

And now?

The situation was far beyond Li Lin's expectations.

The more Fang Zhongyong won on the front line, the more people followed him, and the more devoted they were to serving him.

This further proved that Li Lin was just a puppet emperor.

So even though the government troops showed great power in Huainan and Jiangsu and Zhejiang and consolidated the rule of the court in Bianzhou, Li Lin was not happy at all.

What's even more outrageous is that Fang Chongyong gave the original Huainan Jiedushi Li Qi the title of "King of Chenliu"!

How can a powerful official confer the title of king on a member of the royal family?
This act of usurpation made Li Lin both shocked and angry.

When the imperial edict to confer the title of "Prince of Chenliu" on Li Qi was drafted by Yan Zhuang and sent to the palace, the puppet emperor became completely upset and refused to put his imperial seal on it no matter what!
"No, I really can't give in even a step this time!"

That afternoon, Li Lin was reviewing official documents in the palace, acting as a "rubber stamp".

After seeing the draft edict, he became furious in the Chuigong Hall, which was like the "Imperial Study", and threw the draft edict to the ground in anger.

Not only was he not satisfied, he stepped on it hard twice.

Gao Shang lowered his head, said nothing, and waited for Li Lin to finish venting.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Tired of venting, Li Lin panted, stared at Gao Shang and questioned him, his eyes red.

"Your Majesty, I am very sad, but I don't know what to say."

Gao Shang raised his head, bowed and said.

"Speak! You are always resourceful, how can you be speechless?"

Li Lin was so angry that he sat down on the dragon throne and took a deep breath, as if trying to calm down his anger.

"Your Majesty, Fang Qing did this for the world to see. If Your Majesty cannot tolerate the Prince of Chenliu, wouldn't it just prove to the world that Your Majesty has no tolerance for others?

If Your Majesty tells the world in the future that Fang Qing is a traitor, who will believe him?"

Gao Shang persuaded patiently.

These words hit Li Lin's sore spot, leaving the puppet emperor speechless.

"That makes sense, but Li Qi makes me feel uncomfortable. Whenever I think about this, I become furious."

Li Lin said with a long sigh.

Li Lin was not worried about other people. Even if it was Fang Zhongyong, Li Lin did not think that the other party would immediately threaten his survival.

But Li Qi is different.

Li Qi, or someone with the same identity as him, is a vassal king who is the descendant of Ji Ge. In fact, he is the "flag of separatism" of this era.

It is very important for a separatist force to control a prince as a "face". The negative example is Shi Siming, who insisted on establishing the Great Yan Kingdom.

As a result, Shi Siming's son Shi Chaoyi has now rebelled against him.

However, before this, there had never been a case of a powerful official taking advantage of the royal family to play the "two peaches to kill three men" trick.

Within the same separatist force, "flags" do not compete directly with each other.

But things are different now.

By letting Li Qi openly become the "King of Chenliu", Fang Zhongyong was actually quietly warning Li Lin: You, or your lineage, are not irreplaceable. If you want to fight, then I can even support a King of Chenliu to fight with you.

"Your Majesty, my words may be a little harsh, but honest advice is good for action, so I will say it anyway.

Your Majesty has no chance of winning the battle with Fang Qing. But once Fang Qing is gone, then your Majesty's chance will come.

Even if Your Majesty cannot wait for the opportunity, the other princes may still have a chance.

Please continue to be patient, Your Majesty."

Gao Shang continued to persuade.

"Bear, bear, bear! How long will I have to endure this? When will I be able to take power?"

Li Lin held his head with both hands and rubbed his hair desperately. His spirit was on the verge of collapse.

Now he no longer sees any hope of winning and has lost confidence in winning.

Fang Qing's career was getting more and more successful, his power was growing, and he was gaining more and more loyal followers.

If this continues, he will change the dynasty!
"Your Majesty...Alas!"

Gao Shang felt that he had nothing to say.

Have the descendants of Tian Khan fallen to this level?

Gao Shang sighed in his heart, and for the first time he thought about leaving Li Lin and joining someone else.

But, the world is so big and there is no place for me to stay. Who else can I turn to?
(End of this chapter)