A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1001: Jing Tang, a child who disrespects the Tang Dynasty, sells out his country for glory and defends Hu Lian

The third year of Qingtai in the Later Tang Dynasty and the fourteenth year of Chengqian in the Xia Dynasty

Although Shi Jingtang helped Li Congke capture Li Conghou and was the first to come to the court to meet him.

But this does not mean that I trust my brother-in-law very much in my heart.

Because he controlled the largest vassal state in the Later Tang Dynasty and was highly respected, just like Li Siyuan in the period of Li Cunxu. He was the only veteran general in the period of Zhuangzong.

Therefore, they treated Shi Jingtang as the biggest threat and tried every means to transfer him away from the Hedong base.

Shi Jingtang was well aware of the new emperor's suspicion of him, so he did not dare to hand over any evidence to the other party.

So after attending Li Siyuan's funeral in Chang'an, he did not dare to ask to go back, for fear that Li Congke would become suspicious.

He was always worried and gloomy, and due to his old age and frailty, he soon became skinny and looked like a skeleton.
His wife, Li, was heartbroken upon seeing this, and hurried to the palace to plead with her mother, Empress Dowager Cao, asking Li Congke to release Shi Jingtang.

Although Li Congke was not Empress Dowager Cao's biological son, Empress Dowager Cao treated him like her own son since he was a child.

Seeing that Shi Jingtang was so ill, it was estimated that he didn't have much time left and could hardly pose any threat.

In order to demonstrate his imperial spirit, he took advantage of the situation and did Shi Jingtang a favor by allowing him to return to Hedong.

After returning to Hedong Town, Shi Jingtang became even more cautious and made full preparations for future resistance.

He repeatedly used the excuse of Khitan intrusions on the border to ask Li Congke for large quantities of military rations, but in fact he kept them for his own use and for future plans.

Such behavior made the military generals below mistakenly believe that Shi Jingtang was about to proclaim himself emperor.

So one time the imperial court sent people to comfort the soldiers at the border, and some people shouted "Long live the emperor" and wanted to support Shi Jingtang to be emperor in order to seek rewards for their merits.

Shi Jingtang was afraid that the matter would be leaked, so he killed the leading soldiers, a total of 36 people, on the spot.

As time goes by, in order to prevent being caught off guard by any changes in the future, Shi Jingtang decided to test Li Congke.

March rd
Shi Jingtang pretended to write a letter to resign from his post as commander-in-chief of cavalry and infantry, requesting to be appointed as a governor of another place.

If Li Congke agrees, it proves that he is suspected; if he is appeased and allowed to stay, it means that Li Congke has no intention of harming him.

As a result, Li Congke followed the advice of his trusted ministers and took the opportunity to appoint Shi Jingtang as the governor of Jingzhou, promoted him to the Duke of Zhao, and gave him the title of "Futian Qiyun Zhongzheng Meritorious Minister".

He then issued an imperial edict and sent an envoy to urge Shi Jingtang to set off as soon as possible, just as Li Conghou had urged him at the beginning.

Shi Jingtang was now panicked, for he was not fully prepared, and if he raised an army, he would surely be stabbed in the back by the Khitans.

In order to gather more strength, he even pulled all the troops to Chang'an.

Following the advice of his trusted subordinates, he decided to do something earth-shattering.

May 11

He first delayed his departure on the grounds of illness.

Then he sent his trusted secretary Sang Weihan to Khitan as an envoy, and presented a letter of allegiance to the current Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang, and requested to borrow troops.

After the task was accomplished, he served the Khitan with fatherly rites.

The two sides agreed that after Shi Jingtang became emperor, he would cede Lulong Army and the states north of Yanmen Pass to the Khitan.

When he raised his army, he could help cover the Khitan cavalry, pass through the Tang territory, and unexpectedly attack the northern border of the Xia Kingdom from Weizhou.

In Shi Jingtang's view, Li Yuan started the uprising in Taiyuan in order to hold back the Turks behind him and make a pact of brotherhood with the Turkic Khan.

Now I am temporarily serving the Khitan as a father, which is only a temporary expedient.

Wait until he seizes the throne of Later Tang, and use it to wreak havoc on the power of Xia State and annex its territory.

Under the powerful military force, these things can be beautified or even erased in history.

Moreover, by using the order of the Xia Kingdom, he Shi Jingtang achieved his imperial ambitions. In the words of the ancients, it was like plucking a hair to benefit the whole world. No matter how you look at it, it was Shi Jingtang who benefited.

May 23
Shi Jingtang secretly sent a letter to Shangjing, the capital of the Khitan Kingdom, which was Linhuang Prefecture, the former Tang Songmo Commandery, near the Huanghe River, the original place where the Tuoba Xianbei rose. The Khitan Emperor Yelu Deguang was overjoyed after reading the list. Who could understand his distress when he saw the chaos in the Central Plains, but was blocked outside the pass by the Xia Kingdom and the Tang Kingdom, unable to make any progress.

The Khitan Kingdom had a large territory, but 90% of it was located in the bitter cold north.

To the south were the border troops of the Xia and Tang states, who relied on the frontier defense line built by the former Tang to keep them out of the desert.

To the east, only North Korea has some money, but across the Yalu River, people are treated differently on the upper and lower levels.

The current governor of the Joseon army, Li Wendao, has defended this line of defense tightly with the help of the Joseon noble family, the Bai family.

In addition, the Xia Kingdom continued to sell him various military supplies from the sea, which made him helpless and furious.

To the west, there were also powerful enemies. Gaochang State and Dingnan Army blocked the road to the Western Regions.

Not to mention the Dingnan Army, which is composed of the Dangxiang people, relying on the Yinshan defense line and possessing the abundant grassland of the Hetao Plain. They have strong soldiers and horses, and their combat effectiveness is no less than that of the Hedong Town of the Tang Dynasty.

The Gaochang Kingdom was transformed from the Guiyi Army of the Former Tang Dynasty. Its predecessor was the Qiuci Town of the Former Tang Dynasty, one of the four towns of Anxi and the location of the Anxi Protectorate.

The Bai family of Qiuci in the town is also a branch of the Bai family of the Central Plains.

In other words, the internal supporter of Gaochang Kingdom was the Bai family again.

There are the Bai family of Korea, the Bai family of Gochang, and the Bai family of Xia.

Yelu Deguang and his father Yelu Abaoji finally unified the north and south of the grassland and were about to make a big move.

However, they were blocked by the anti-Hu chain built by the Bai family during the Tang Dynasty to guard against the powerful ruler of the northern grasslands.

They can only be trapped in the desert grasslands to the north.

It was under such circumstances that his father, Yelu Abaoji, had to turn from external wars in his early years to internal struggles, and eventually died in depression due to the internal contradictions of the Khitan Kingdom.

Otherwise, he would not have been allowed to ascend the throne and become emperor as the second son who held military power.

Therefore, the Khitans hated the Xia Kingdom extremely and coveted the wealth of Hebei, but they were unable to succeed due to the Xia army's military defense line in Jibei.

Now Shi Jingtang had the opportunity to take control of Hebei and break through the Jibei defense line from the side. How could he not be excited?

"I, the Great Khitan, have agreed to your request. I have decided to mobilize the whole nation's strength in August and lead the cavalry south to help your Lord Shi conquer the world."

"From now on, your country will be the most distinguished guest of Khitan. May Changshengtian be with your master, and may the friendship between the two families last forever."

"But, let me make it clear in advance. After the matter is accomplished, do not forget our agreement, otherwise don't blame me for taking it. By then, it will not be the business of the sixteen states in Yanyun."

Sang Weihan, who was kneeling on the ground with a servile attitude, immediately smiled flatteringly and said, "Of course, of course. Since my master serves the emperor as a son, he will naturally respect the alliance between the two countries. This is already decided."

"very good."

Yelu Deguang was very satisfied with Sang Weihan's attitude.

He immediately issued a cavalry recruitment order to the entire Khitan country, and recruited cavalry from various foreign tribes that had surrendered to the Khitan, ordering them to gather in Shangjing before August. Anyone who disobeyed the order would have their entire clan exterminated.

June 11

Li Congke issued another decree, urging Shi Jingtang to set off to his fiefdom.

As a result, Shi Jingtang, who received a clear reply from the Khitans, became tough. Not only did he refuse to change the town in front of the envoy, he also submitted a memorial accusing Li Congke of ascending the throne illegally and that the throne should be immediately handed over to Xu Wang Li Congyi.

After seeing the memorial, Li Congke was furious and tore it up. He issued an imperial decree to strip Zhang Jingda of all his official titles. Zhang Jingda led tens of thousands of troops to attack Jinyang and mobilized troops from various towns to join the campaign.

Because he had long been on guard against Shi Jingtang, when Li Congke agreed to his enfeoffment, he appointed Zhang Jingda as the deputy commander-in-chief of the northern army and stationed troops in Daizhou in order to disperse and contain Shi Jingtang's forces.

June 23
The Later Tang court appointed Zhang Jingda as the Taiyuan Four-Sided Repelling Envoy, Taiyuan Four-Sided Recruiting Envoy, and Taiyuan Executive Office, and sent troops to encircle and suppress Shi Jingtang.

June 28
Zhang Jingda moved south from Daibei and soon approached Taiyuan Prefecture. He mobilized troops and set up camp in Jin'an, south of Jinyang City, supervised the construction of siege equipment, and besieged Taiyuan.

(End of this chapter)