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

Chapter 889: The Lord of Restoration is saved from the predicament, waiting for the right time, loyal and wise ruler
May 2, the 14th year of the Dali calendar

Saint Li Yu was seriously ill.

May 21

Li Yu issued an edict to appoint Crown Prince Li Shi as regent.

That night, Li Yu died in the Zichen Hall of the Daming Palace in Chang'an at the age of 54. He was posthumously named "Emperor Ruiwen Xiaowu", temple name "Daizong", and buried in Yuanling.

Although Li Yu took over a country that was in turmoil both internally and externally, the country was in a state of decline and he himself had to move many times.

But since he repelled the Tibetan invasion and returned to Chang'an in the third year of Guangde, he began to work hard to govern the country, reused the famous general Guo Ziyi, alienated the eunuchs, and changed the era name to "Dali" to show his ambition.

In order to guard against the harassment from Tubo every autumn, the capital city was always under martial law, which was called "autumn defense."

Li Yu successively appointed capable military generals such as Guo Ziyi and Ma Lin as anti-autumn envoys to manage the northwest.

He then reused Prime Minister Yuan Zai and conspired with him to kill the powerful eunuch Yu Chaoen.

After Yu Chaoen's death, Yuan Zai monopolized the government, was corrupt and abused his power, and bribed people at large. Li Yu was dissatisfied and ordered the Left Jinwu General Wu Cou to arrest and execute him.

In the end, he appointed Yang Wan, who was known for his integrity, as prime minister in an attempt to use him to eliminate old abuses.

But because Yang Wan died young, all this was wasted.

However, Li Yu's series of correct measures in his later years did give the Tang Dynasty a shot in the arm.

Externally, the situation in the northwest was well under control, and the fierce momentum of Tubo's massive invasion was initially curbed.

The Tang Dynasty won four battles in the eighth year of the Dali period and regained its prefectures and counties in the northwest.

Internally, after resolving the threat from Tubo, the increasingly domineering military garrisons in Hebei, especially the former generals of An Lushan, were checked and suppressed by means of checks and balances.

In the tenth year of the Dali period, Tian Chengsi, the governor of Weizhou, took Xiangzhou on the pretext of suppressing a rebellion, captured Mingzhou, expelled Xue Xiong, the governor of Weizhou, and plundered Bingzhou and Lianxian, thus taking control of the four states of Wei, Xiang, Ming and Wei.

The imperial court changed its previous conciliatory tactics and prepared to send troops to pacify the rebellion. However, Bai believed that the imperial court had a sign of revival, so he immediately stopped his secession efforts, took the initiative to welcome the famous general Ma Lin to Hedong, and recommended him to the imperial court as the governor of Hedong.

Li Yu was overjoyed when he heard the news. Originally, he had only a 40% chance of winning against Tian Chengsi, but with the help of the Bai family, he could at least improve it by two more levels, reaching the sixth level.

In return for the favor, he issued an edict to increase the fief of Duke Bai's mansion by a thousand households, and appointed Duke Bai's son Bai Xin as the Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner of Hedong, granting him all the financial power of Hedong.

He also appointed Bai Niu, the former governor of Hedong, as the Taiwei and appointed him as the inspector of the Dongdao Hezhong, Hedong, Chengde, Luze, Huihe and Zhenwu Recruiting and Suppressing.

He became the second most important general of the imperial court after Grand Tutor Guo Ziyi and suppressed the Dongdao.

After pacifying the Bai family and the other military garrisons, Li Yu launched a large-scale military campaign against Hebei. In April of the same year, he demoted Tian Chengsi to the position of governor of Yongzhou.

He also dispatched the eight military governors of Hedong, Chengde, Zibo, Huaixi, Yongping, Bian Song, Youzhou and Zelu to send troops to Wei Bo to prepare for the expedition against Tian Chengsi.

Faced with a massive attack by an imperial army of more than 100,000 troops, disputes arose within Wei Bo, with the Zhan and He factions arguing fiercely.

In the end, Tian Chengsi overwhelmed everyone's opinion and decided to fight a decisive battle with the court.

"When King An and King Shi started the rebellion, they had no more than 10,000 soldiers and no more than 10 generals, yet they were able to capture Luoyang, capture Chang'an, and traverse the north and south of the Yellow River. Now Wei Bo has more than 100,000 soldiers and dozens of generals. Is it more difficult than the two kings?"

"The imperial court has always been ungrateful to Hebei. Life and death, wealth and honor depend on this day. Kill him and his head will roll."

Under Tian Chengsi's advocacy, more than 100,000 troops of Wei Bo attacked everywhere, captured cities and territories, intending to open up the situation before the arrival of the imperial army.

In May, Huo Rongguo, a general under Tian Chengsi, surrendered to the government troops in Cizhou.

Li Zhengji, the governor of Zibo and Qingzhou, captured Dezhou, Li Zhongchen, the governor of Huaixi, besieged Weizhou, and Pei Zhiqing, who was sent by Tian Chengsi to attack Jizhou, surrendered to Li Baochen, the governor of Chengde. Tian Chengsi had no choice but to personally march into Jizhou, but was defeated by Li Baochen and escaped only after burning his baggage.

In August, Tian Chengsi saw that the troops from various towns were surrounding him and he was defeated in successive battles.

Moreover, Mingzhou was captured by Bai Yongde, the governor of Luze, and most of his generals defected. The number of troops was reduced to more than 70,000, which made him very frightened.

On August 11, Tian Chengsi sent an envoy to present a letter of surrender, expressing his willingness to submit to the court.

But soon he ordered Lu Ziqi to attack Cizhou, but was repelled by Bai Yongde.

On August 23, Li Baochen and Li Zhengji jointly besieged Beizhou, north of Weizhou, and Tian Chengsi sent troops to rescue it.

While the main force of Wei Bo was heading north, Bai Yongde invaded Weizhou from the south from Cizhou, and the situation was very dangerous.

When Tian Chengsi was preparing to surrender, the Chengde Army and the Zibo-Qing Army became resentful because the court rewarded them differently.

The two Lis were afraid that the soldiers would mutiny, so they withdrew their troops overnight. When Lu Ze's army learned about this, they retreated to Cizhou, and Tian Chengsi's danger was resolved.

Soon, Li Baochen and Youzhou Jiedushi Zhu Tao jointly attacked Cangzhou. Tian Chengsi's cousin Tian Tingjie held the city firmly, making it difficult to break through the city for a while.

In October, Tian Chengsi's general Lu Ziqi was defeated and captured at Qingshui by Li Baochen and Zhaoyi Jiedushi Li Chengzhao, and then beheaded in the capital.

On October 13, Tian Chengsi's nephew Tian Yue was defeated in Chenliu.

At this critical moment, Tian Chengsi sent an envoy to present the household registration, armor, weapons, grain and silk books in the territory to Li Zhengji, and promised to hand over everything in Wei Bo to him after his death.

Li Zhengji was overjoyed and kept his troops in place.

Seeing that Li Zhengji did not move, the towns in Henan did not dare to advance easily.

Having resolved his worries in the south, Tian Chengsi was able to concentrate on resolving the issues in the north.

Afterwards, he devised a strategy to alienate the relationship between Li Baochen, the main force in the north, and the court, resulting in a fight between Li Baochen and Zhu Tao, who was loyal to the court.

The Southern Garrison remained motionless, and the Northern Garrison fought against each other. The expedition to Wei Bo could no longer continue. At this time, Tian Chengsi once again submitted a petition, requesting to go to the court to apologize, and Li Zhengji kept pleading for him.

While Li Yu was hesitating, news came from Hedong that Ma Lin, the governor of Hedong, had died. He also lost the support of a large town. After sighing, he agreed to their request.

In the 11th year of the Dali period, the imperial court agreed to allow Weizhou Jiedushi Tian Chengsi to reform himself, pardoned his crimes, restored his official title, allowed him to enter the court with his family, and did not hold his generals accountable.

In the following period, Li Yu continued to attack the overbearing military towns, and adopted repressive measures such as restricting the military strength of the vassal towns, dismissing the militia and guarding envoys of various states, and ordering the vassal commanders not to serve as acting governors of subordinate states.

Finally, the towns were forced to surrender and no longer dared to invade the prefectures and counties at will.

Therefore, after his death, the country left to the new emperor Li Shi was a country that suppressed Tubo, made friends with the grasslands, eliminated powerful eunuchs, had relatively clean government, and had restrained military garrisons.

Compared with the numerous problems left by Li Heng when Li Yu took over, Li Shi's start was considered promising.

At least Bai Jing believed that as long as Li Shi did not fight recklessly, steadily implemented Li Yu's policy of suppressing military garrisons, and was neither arrogant nor impatient, there was no doubt that the Tang Dynasty would have a chance to revive.

After the new emperor Li Shi ascended the throne, he seemed to give outsiders the impression of being a wise ruler.

During the mourning period, all actions were carried out in accordance with the regulations of etiquette. He also summoned King Han Li Jiong to have a meal, and only ate horse tooth soup without salt or cheese.

The ministers praised this and believed that there was hope for the revival of the Tang Dynasty, so they gave Li Shi the title of "Holy, Divine, Civil and Military Emperor".

This shows the expectations people all over the world have for Li Shi.

(End of this chapter)