Editing of the ten loyal ministers and the emperors standing up

Chapter 195 Death of Yan Zhenqing

Above the sky, the situation in Hebei becomes increasingly severe.

As the Anshi rebels dispatched Shi Siming and others to attack Hebei, many counties in Hebei were captured. The morale of the Pingyuan County army was turbulent, and the situation took a turn for the worse.

After everyone's discussion, Yan Zhenqing decided to give up Pingyuan County to preserve his strength.

From the outbreak of the war to the fall of Pingyuan County in October of the following year, Yan Zhenqing's resistance war in Pingyuan County became a banner for the Tang army in the early days of the Anshi Rebellion.

After meeting Emperor Li Heng, Li Heng appointed Yan Zhenqing as Secretary of the Ministry of Constitution, and later transferred to Yushi Dafu.

After returning to civil service, Yan Zhenqing continued his diligent work in impeaching lawless officials.

Because of Yan Zhenqing's upright character in the past, he offended Lu Qi, the traitorous prime minister during the Tang Dezong period.

[In 783, Li Xilie broke out in rebellion, and his treacherous nature forced the famous official Yan Zhenqing to die! 】

The whole incident begins with a man named Lu Qi.

This Lu Qi was originally from a famous family, but after reading his biography, I am afraid you can only use one word to describe him, and that is "treacherous minister"!

Yes, a complete traitor.

He almost fits all the public’s imagination of the concept of “treacherous minister”:

Talking sweetly but hiding swords, being jealous of talents and talents, retribution for hatred, extortion and extortion...

Guo Ziyi, the king of Fenyang who put down the Anshi Rebellion and rebuilt the Tang Dynasty, fell ill. As usual, all officials had to visit him.

When Guo Ziyi received other officials, he did not ask the women in his family to avoid them. But when it was Lu Qi's turn, he dismissed all his concubines and maids and entertained them alone.

When Lu Qi left and his family asked why, Guo Ziyi said:

"This man is ugly and has a bad heart. The women in the family will definitely laugh at him when they see him. Then our family will be wiped out in the future."

He was "ugly in appearance and blue in color, and everyone regarded him as a ghost." He had a big blue face and was regarded as a ghost by others.

But he was eloquent and eloquent, and he gained the favor of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty and became prime minister.

When traitors are in power, persecuting Zhongliang is a must. The grudge between him and Yan Zhenqing is almost inevitable.

Yan Zhenqing, it seems that he is more accepted as a calligrapher, who created the "Yan style calligraphy" that has been popular for thousands of years.

But his identity is not just a great calligrapher!

He was a general who summoned an army of 200,000 troops to fight to the death during the Anlushan Revolt and was the leader of the seventeen counties;

He is also a supervisory censor who clears up the injustice;

A minister of the Ministry of Justice who was so poor that his whole family lived on porridge;

A "Founding Duke of Lu County" who dared to uphold justice and discipline and did not hesitate to offend the powerful.

"It is better to offend a gentleman than a villain." Guo Ziyi understands this truth, but Yan Zhenqing does not. All his life, he has been offending villains, and villains in power.

When Yang Guozhong came to power, he rebelled against Yang Guozhong and was sent to Pingyuan County as the prefect;

When Li Fuguo came to power, he rebelled against Li Fuguo and was demoted as the governor of Pengzhou;

When Yuan Zai was in power, he rebelled against Yuan Zai and was demoted to Xiazhou Biejia.

Later, Yuan Zai was executed, and Yang Yan and Lu Qi came to power one after another. Where was Yan Zhenqing?

Don’t change your original intention and continue to fight.

Doesn't he really know that people's hearts are evil and the world is difficult?

Therefore, when Lu Qi was about to find a remote place to send Yan Zhenqing away from the center of power, Yan Zhenqing adopted the most desperate approach:

Come and reason with me!

So when Li Xilie rebelled, Lu Qi suggested to the emperor that he send Yan Zhenqing to recruit troops. The reason was high-sounding:

Above the sky, Lu Qi said to the emperor,

"Gong Yan has always had great prestige and was admired by many military and military commanders. Your Majesty sent him to declare the imperial edict and pacify the rebellion without sending troops.

Mr. Yan, you won’t shirk it, right? "

Ok?

The key is that the emperor really believed it!

"Mr. Yan, what do you think?"

His Majesty the Emperor spoke, obviously wanting to send him.

The civil and military officials of the entire court were stunned. Isn't this the prime minister's revenge? Everyone looked at all this blankly,

But they were not Yan Zhenqing, so no one dared to speak, and no one dared to offend the prime minister.

Everyone except the emperor knew that this was tantamount to sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth.

Even Yan Zhenqing himself knew that this trip would never come back.

He could have refused to go away even if he was ill. No one would embarrass a seventy-year-old minister, not even Tang Dezong.

Sending a state elder to quell the rebellion alone, in the words of the then minister Li Mian, was called "embarrassing the court". How shameful!

Yan Zhenqing came out of the queue, dragged his old body and said:

"Your Majesty, I am willing to send an envoy!" There were not many excuses or evasions, just a few words and he agreed!

Confucianism believes that the world is not perfect, and people need to shoulder the responsibility of saving the world.

And Yan Zhenqing is an out-and-out Confucian scholar, so he chose to go without hesitation.

Just like when An Lushan rebelled, twenty-four counties in Hebei surrendered. Only Yan Zhenqing raised the flag of righteousness and resisted the thieves alone.

More than thirty members of the Yan family were killed in that war, and they were almost wiped out.

When he used his bald hair soaked in blood and tears to write a memorial for his nephew who died in the war, he also asked painfully:

"If God doesn't regret the misfortune, who is responsible for the evil?" Where is the mercy of God?

Why do people suffer so much? Now faced with a choice,

He once again used actions to practice his beliefs and moral principles, "Although there are thousands of people, I will go."

This trip is bound to be unlucky, and when relatives and friends are parting, there will inevitably be sadness of separation and death.

Some friends wanted to stop him, but Yan Zhenqing calmly gave instructions for the burial of the remains.

He also said: "It is your order, how can you avoid it?"

This is Yan Zhenqing, who will never learn to protect himself wisely.

Always be sincere and innocent, and always move forward with your head held high.

In the freezing cold wind, the driver rushed to Xuzhou without hesitation.

Above the sky, Yan Zhenqing arrived at the rebel camp!

Go straight into the camp alone!

However, it was not the ceremonial band that greeted him. As soon as Yan Zhenqing arrived at the bandit camp, thousands of Li Xilie's adopted sons drew their swords at him and cursed him endlessly.

But Yan Zhenqing was not moved at all.

Then on the sky screen, there was only a conversation between two people in a dark corner!

"Yan Zhenqing, how are you doing?"

"Unmoving as a mountain, his face does not change!"

……

"Yan Zhenqing, please surrender to me!"

"Returning to the truth is handsome, no, this old guy is so arrogant!"

……

"Yan Zhenqing, what have you been doing these days? After being imprisoned for so long, he still refuses to repent?"

"Jie Shuai..."

"Why are you hesitating? Why don't you tell the truth?"

"Yan Zhenqing... is writing an epitaph and memorial text for herself. She has already written a suicide note."

"Okay, okay, doesn't he want to die? Go dig a hole for me and bury him!"

……

Yan Zhenqing wrote a suicide note to Tang Dezong and was prepared to die for his country.

As the Tang army's situation strengthened, the situation changed.

Perhaps Li Xilie was afraid that his rebellion would be exposed, so Li Xilie decided to kill Yan Zhenqing.

Li Xilie sent two of his men to Yan Zhenqing's residence and told Yan Zhenqing that he would burn Yan Zhenqing to death if he did not surrender.

Yan Zhenqing ran towards the firewood pile with dignity, but was pulled by others, and Yan Zhenqing survived.

Later, because Li Xilie's brother died unexpectedly, Li Xilie became even more angry and sent eunuchs to kill Yan Zhenqing!

The scene of Yan Zhenqing before his death was played on the sky screen:

In August, when the autumn wind was bleak, Li Xilie sent his subordinates and eunuchs to Caizhou to kill Yan Zhenqing.

When the eunuch arrived, he first shouted: "There is an edict!"

Yan Zhenqing bowed down.

Then the eunuch read out the edict, saying that the emperor wanted to kill him.

Yan Zhenqing said: "This old minister is innocent and deserves death. But I don't know when the messenger will come from Chang'an?"

The eunuch replied: "Come from Daliang."

Yan Zhenqing realized that the eunuch came on Li Xilie's order, so he cursed angrily: "

How dare you call the emperor a traitor! "

　. . .

　　

　

(End of this chapter)