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

Chapter 890: Following the previous aspirations to reduce the vassal states and achieve virtue, the rewards are unclear and the four towns rise up

When every king first ascends the throne, he generally has great ambitions and envisions creating great achievements like Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang.

Li Shi was no exception.

His father, Emperor Daizong Li Yu, was a rare sage monarch. Even though he had the shortcomings of loving money and seeking Buddha’s favor, his merits outweighed his flaws.

The Tang Dynasty handed over to him was a country with internal and external stability, clean government, and no oppression by powerful officials and corrupt eunuchs.

In literature, Cui Youfu and Qiao Lin were prime ministers, and their politics were clean and simple, and their government affairs were smooth.

There were also Yang Yan and Lu Qi who were ministers of finance, who were good at managing money and the national treasury was abundant.

There were also Yan Zhenqing, Yan Ying, Zhang Yi, Li Kui, Du You and others, who were wise ministers and good officials, and the government was in good order and the people were harmonious.

The military had veteran generals including Guo Ziyi and Bai Niu, who commanded the imperial guards and suppressed any disobedience.

There were also Ma Sui and Hun Yu who were stationed in important places and all the other states submitted to them.

There were also loyal Tang military governors such as Li Sheng, Luo Yuanguang, Li Huaiguang, Bai Yongde, Tian Shenyu, and Bai Ming who suppressed the local areas.

It can be said that there is hope for revival and restoration is imminent.

Not only the court officials and the wise men in the countryside, but even Bai Jing could only sigh helplessly:
"The destiny of the Tang Dynasty was planted by heaven. Perhaps it was the legacy of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong who ended hundreds of years of civil strife in the Central Plains."

The first month of the second year of Jianzhong
It was also the second year of Li Shi's accession to the throne that Li Shi began to reduce the power of the princes.

It happened that Li Baochen, the governor of Chengde, a large town in Hebei, died of illness. According to the previous rules, the governor of a vassal state would pass on his position and land to his descendants after his death.

So his son Li Weiyue submitted a petition requesting to inherit the position of Jiedushi.

As a result, Li Shi refused and instead appointed Zhang Xiaozhong, the governor of Yizhou, as the military governor of Chengde Army and asked him to go to the capital immediately to oversee the funeral.

When Li Weiyue learned about this, he was furious, so he gave up the seven states and, with the recommendation of the generals in the army, appointed himself as the regent, preparing to resist the court with force. He also actively contacted the old rebels in Wei Bo, preparing to unite and resist orders.

In addition to the virtues left by Tian Chengsi, Weizhou Jiedushi Tian Yue joined forces with Zibo and Qingzhen to jointly recommend Li Weiyue as the successor to Chengdezhen.

Li Shi still refused and asked Li Weiyue to come to Beijing again.

Finally, the three towns rebelled together, and their armies swept across the river.

All three towns are large towns. Needless to say, Weizhou inherited almost half of the Anshi Rebellion's legacy and occupied the land of Wei Xiang. The imperial court was unable to suppress it many times.

Chengde was originally a military name under the large town of Hebei Town. Later, due to the existence of Weizhou, the southern part of Hebei could not be incorporated into it. So Li Yu split Hebei Town and changed it into Chengde Town, which was the largest town after Shuofang, Hebei, Youzhou, etc.

The same was true for Ziqing Town. Li Yu was concerned about the influence of the Bai family in Qingzhou, so he supported Ziqing Town and squeezed out Pinglu Town supported by the Bai family, making it a big town in Shandong in one fell swoop.

Just as Li Shi was preparing to mobilize troops to suppress the rebellion, Shannan Jiedushi Liang Chongyi was persuaded by Li Weiyue to rebel.

This directly threatens the capital.

Therefore, Li Shi mobilized more than 10,000 soldiers from the west of Beijing to guard the dangerous passes in Guanzhong in case of any emergency.

He also mobilized the military garrisons loyal to the court to launch a large-scale expedition.

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Li Shi ordered Zhu Tao, the governor of Youzhou, to cooperate with the court in sending troops south to suppress the rebels and to support and attack Chengde's army.

He also mobilized the military governors of the Shence Army, Li Sheng, Ma Sui, Li Baozhen, Li Baozhen, and Li Peng to meet in Luoyang as the main force to attack Wei Bo.

In addition, Li Mian, the military governor of Yongping Army, was appointed as the military governor-general of the three cities of Bian, Hua, Chen, Huai, Zheng, Ru, Shaanxi, Song, Boying and Heyang, and led a detachment to attack Zibo and Qing.

Then he sent Li Xilie, the governor of Huaixi, as a detachment to attack Shannan.

Seeing the imperial army approaching, Li Weiyue's general, Yizhou Governor Zhang Xiaozhong, surrendered Yizhou to the imperial court. Li Shi appointed him as the governor of Chengde and cooperated with Zhu Tao to attack Li Weiyue.

In August, Li Zhengji, the governor of Zibo and Qingzhou, died of illness, and his son Li Na took over the post of governor of Zibo and Qingzhou.

In the first month of the third year of Jianzhong, Zhu Tao and Zhang Xiaozhong defeated the Chengde rebels in Shulu, and Li Weiyue burned the camp and fled.

On the 18th day of the first lunar month, seeing that Li Weiyue had suffered defeats in successive battles, General Chengde and Governor of Zhaozhou Kang Rizhi surrendered the city to the court. Li Weiyue then sent his general Wei Changning and military commander Wang Wujun to attack him.

As a result, Wang Wujun and Wei Changning agreed to surrender to the Tang army as soon as they left Hengzhou. They returned from Zhaozhou overnight and marched straight to Hengzhou. With the help of internal forces, they broke into Hengzhou City, beheaded Li Weiyue and his relatives, and presented their heads to the capital. In February, Yang Zhengyi, the general of Chengde and the governor of Dingzhou, surrendered to Zhang Xiaozhong, which meant that the Chengde rebellion had been quelled.

Li Shi was very happy when he heard the news. In addition, Li Xilie had already conquered Liang Chongyi of Shannan, and Li Na of Zibo and Qing was defeated step by step. Now only Tian Yue of Weizhou was left.

In order to encourage the troops to attack and completely wipe out the two towns of Zibo and Weizhou, Li Shi made an exception and commended the heroes who wiped out Chengde Town in advance.

Zhu Tao, the governor of Youzhou, was appointed as the inspector of Si Tu because of his merits, and was also appointed to govern Dezhou and Linzhou prefectures.

Zhang Xiaozhong was appointed as the Acting Minister of War, Jiedushi of Yiwu, and also the Inspector of Yi, Dingcang and other states.

Wang Wujun was the Acting Secretary General, Chief Censor, Governor of Hengzhou, and Observer of the Hengji Military Training Force.

Kang Rizhi was the governor of Zhaozhou and the commander of the militia in Zhaodu.

Li Shi's move not only eliminated the Chengde military title, but also divided the original Chengde jurisdiction into three parts, directly cutting off a large town in Hebei.

However, Li Shiguang thought about reducing the power of the feudal lords, but did not think about eliminating the hostility between the towns.

Among them, Zhu Tao requested to obtain Shenzhou, but was rejected by Li Shi. Zhu Tao was resentful about this and even stayed in Shenzhou.

However, Wang Wujun had always looked down on Zhang Xiaozhong, believing that his contribution in killing Li Weiyue was greater than that of Kang Rizhi. However, Zhang Xiaozhong was a military governor, while he and Kang Rizhi were only commanders-in-chief.

He was also very dissatisfied as he did not get Zhaozhou and Dingzhou.

So in October of the third year of Jianzhong, the dissatisfied Zhu Tao and Wang Wujun joined forces with Wei Bo's Tian Yue and Zibo and Qing Li Na who had not been eliminated. The four towns elected Zhu Tao as their leader and united to fight against the court to express their dissatisfaction.

October 16

Tian Chengsi had been besieged in Weizhou by Li Sheng of Shen Ce, Ma Sui of Hedong, Li Baozhen of Zhaoyi, and Li Peng of Heyang for several months.

Their power had been weakened to the extreme, but now with the support of the Allies, they have begun to recover.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen from the three towns arrived in Weizhou. After discussions, generals such as Li Sheng and Ma Sui believed that their army had been on the march for a long time and was exhausted, so it was not suitable for a fight, so they withdrew to Huaizhou.

With the rebellion of the four towns, the situation in the world became deteriorating again, as if the Anshi Rebellion was imminent.

November 6

The four towns agreed to declare themselves kings. Zhu Tao called himself the King of Ji, Wang Wujun called himself the King of Zhao, Li Na called himself the King of Qi, and Tian Yue of Wei Bo called himself the King of Wei.

In December, Li Shi intended to mobilize Li Xilie of Huaixi and appointed him as the acting Sikong, concurrently the Jiedushi of Zibo and Qingzhou, and the envoy of Silla and Bohai, and sent him north to quell the rebellion.

However, he was threatened by him and demanded that the court recognize his request of "Grand Marshal of the World, Grand Commandant, and Prince of Jianxing".

Li Shi naturally disagreed, so Li Xilie raised an army in Huaixi, echoed the four towns in Hebei, and joined forces with Li Na of Zibo and Qing to cause trouble in Jianghuai, and proclaimed himself King of Jianxing.

The fourth year of Jianzhong
Because Li Xilie's rebellion interrupted the court's tax collection route from the southeast.

The three towns in Hebei were blocked in Hebei by Li Sheng, Ma Sui and others, and Li Na of Shandong was besieged in Zibo by Bai Ming, the governor of Xuanwu (stationed in Bianzhou), Tian Shenyu, the governor of Biansong, Bai Shouchun, the governor of Pinglu, and Li Mian, the governor of Yongping Army.

So Li Shi decided to pacify Huaixi first and then Hebei.

In July, Li Shi appointed Li Mian as the Huaixi Recruiting Envoy and Geshu Yao as the Huaixi Deputy Recruiting Envoy to be responsible for the campaign against Li Xilie.

Li Mian went south from Bianzhou, and Geshu Yao led his troops to garrison in Xiangcheng.

The two fought with Li Xilie many times, but neither of them won.

In August, Li Xilie led 20,000 troops to besiege Xiangcheng, and Xiangcheng was in danger.

Li Mian ordered his generals Tang Hanchen and Liu Dexin to lead troops south to rescue, but they were defeated.

In September, Xiangcheng was still besieged by the Huaixi rebels. In order to relieve the siege of Xiangcheng, Li Shi ordered Prince Shu to be the commander-in-chief of the military camps of Jingxiang, Jiangxi, Mianyang and E.

Considering that the imperial guards such as Shen Ce could not move rashly, he ordered the troops stationed in Jingyuan in the northwest to march south to rescue Xiangcheng.

(End of this chapter)