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

Chapter 977: Jicheng sieges Bai Song's credibility, the two kings neighbor Liang State and change again

October of the tenth year of Tang Tianyou

After being besieged for one year and eight months, Jicheng was trapped both internally and externally. Liu Shouguang sent people out of the city to sneak into the camp many times in an attempt to find reinforcements, but all failed.

It was not until last month that Song general Li Cunqian sent people to bring news of the Luoyang coup into the city and persuade Liu Shouguang to surrender.

He also sent out archers to write the news of Zhu Wen's defeat and death in Wei County on paper, and then shot arrows into the city to shake the morale of the army.

This series of measures is very effective.

After persisting for another month, Liu Shouguang finally believed the fact that there was civil strife in the Liang court and that it was unable to rescue him.

He locked himself in the room, thinking hard about who else around him could save him.

In the end he realized that from the moment he proclaimed himself emperor, he was doomed to fail.

Because he was not as powerful as Zhu Wen, and the strength of the surrounding princes had been greatly weakened, he was not afraid of the joint attack of various countries and took advantage of the favorable conditions.

He is not like Wang Jian, who occupied the natural advantages of Bashu and the geographical position.

October
Liu Shouguang summoned the guest general Wang Zunhua and said:
"I have offended Lord Song and lost myself in confusion. Now I am ill. Please explain the reason to Lord Song on my behalf. If I succeed, I will certainly make you a high minister."

Wang Zunhua was born into the Wang family of Taiyuan, and had been on good terms with the Bai family, who were also from Taiyuan, through marriage for generations.

He was originally a general guarding Liaodong in the Tang Dynasty. After Liu Rengong captured Lulong, he tricked him into going to Jicheng and placed him under house arrest.

Because they were afraid of his prestige in Liaodong, they did not harm him but treated him with courtesy.

After hearing Liu Shouguang's words, Wang Zunhua did not comment. He was already over 50 years old and had no other wishes at this time but to return to Liaodong to retire.

Now that he had the chance to escape, he naturally would not refuse, and replied: "I dare not ask for the position of the king's senior minister, I only hope that after the matter is accomplished, the king will let me go back."

"Of course, of course." Liu Shouguang smiled awkwardly.

The next day, Wang Zunhua took Liu Shouguang's letter and went outside the city to ask for an audience with Li Cunqian, commander of the Song army.

After reading Liu Shouguang's handwritten letter, Li Cunqian said with a hint of sarcasm:

"The Emperor of Great Yan has not yet arrived at the southern suburbs to offer sacrifices to heaven, how could it have come to this? I was ordered by the Duke of Song to punish the usurpers, and I know nothing else."

"Your Excellency is an old minister of the Tang Dynasty and a famous general in Liaodong. How can you help the enemy now? Why don't you stay here and I will take you back to Liaodong?"

Wang Zunhua was somewhat tempted, but he finally sighed and said, "Whether the matter of loyalty to the emperor is successful or not, I should report it to the King of Yan. Leaving here is not the behavior of a gentleman."

He then returned to Jicheng and reported Li Cunqian's words to Liu Shouguang.

After hearing this, Liu Shouguang became even more tired. Two days later, he sent his general Zhou Zunye with a thousand pieces of silk, a thousand taels of silver, and a hundred pieces of brocade to meet Li Cunqian and say:
"My king told the general the truth. Wealth, honor, success and failure are common sense. Remembering others' merits and forgiving others' mistakes is the mindset of a hegemon."

"The Prince of Yan was arrogant last year and claimed to be the emperor. His original intention was just to not be under Zhu Wen, but he never expected that the army of Duke Song would surround him for more than a year. Now that he has realized his mistakes, he is asking Duke Song to forgive him."

Li Cunqian refused.

Liu Shouguang had no choice but to climb the city wall himself and shouted to Li Cunqian: "General, you are a wise man of Bian Song and a hero who has traveled all over the world. Can't you think about the dangers of others?"

"If I defend the city with my life, does the general plan to siege me for three to five years?"

After that, he asked someone to exchange his mount for Li Cunqian's mount, and continued: "Since the general cannot make a decision on his own, I will surrender after the Duke of Song arrives."

After saying this, he went down the city wall and ordered all the gates to be guarded strictly.

After Li Cunqian returned to the camp, he discussed with Bai Xingjian and Cui Shaojie. In the end, all three of them agreed that Liu Shouguang was the king and should not be insulted by them. They sent someone to tell Kaifeng about the situation here and waited for Bai Jian's decision.

On October 13, the messenger cavalry, whose horses had died in a row, finally arrived at Kaifeng City. After reading the letter, Bai Jian decided to go to Jicheng in person to avoid unnecessary losses to the Northern Expedition army.

October 29
Bai Jian left his son Bai Xi as regent, assisted by Lady Song Li and Minister Tian Weiyi.

He brought only a few hundred black-armored cavalrymen from his personal guards, and they rode at full speed, day and night, and arrived at the Jicheng camp.

Upon learning that Duke Baijian of Song had arrived in person, Liu Shouguang climbed the city wall again and heard the other party asking him what he would do.

Liu Shouguang did not answer, but asked Bai Jian what he would do to him if he surrendered.

Bai Jian said: "Although you are usurping the throne, you are still a prince, and you were personally conferred the title by the saint of the previous dynasty. Although I am acting on behalf of heaven, I should not force you too much. You must know that heaven also has the virtue of loving life."

"If you truly repent and save this century-old city from war, you will have done a great deed."

"I promise that you can move to Kaifeng, keep your title of king, and remotely rule Youzhou. Although you won't have the power to rule the whole country, you can still live a life of wealth and honor without worrying about life and death. Is this the same treatment as a teacher of a prince?"

Liu Shouguang was silent for a moment, then said, "I am now the meat on the chopping block, let the public deal with it."

After that, he ordered his men to open the city gates and let the Song army enter the city.

November st

The Song army entered Jicheng, and this century-old famous city finally opened its arms after a siege of one year and ten months.

November

Bai Jian ordered Bai Xingjian to escort Liu Shouguang and his 300-member family back to Kaifeng.

November 15th
After resolving the miscellaneous affairs in Youzhou, Baijian left Li Cunqian as the Jiedushi of Youzhou, and gave him the title of Guanjun General, to pacify the military affairs of Youzhou, Wo, Yi, Wei, Xuan and other states.

Cui Shaojie was appointed as the acting governor of Youzhou, and his posts as the military advisor of the Privy Council and the scholar of Bianliang remained unchanged.

As for Liu Shouguang, he demoted himself to King of Yan, but still served as the Jiedushi of Lulong Army (with only a hundred or so personal cavalry left). Bai Jian rewarded him with a palace in Kaifeng City, so that he could become a rich man for the time being.

It is said that next to the Prince of Yan's Palace is the Prince of Qi's Palace, which belongs to Wang Shifan, the Prince of Qi and the governor of the Yicheng Army.

Originally, Wang Shifan did not have the title of King of Qi. Bai Jian specially reported it to the Tang court, which had not yet disappeared, in order to show the world his courtesy to the surrendered princes.

It was precisely because of Wang Shifan's previous experience that Liu Rengong was willing to surrender to Baijian.

If it were someone else, like Zhu Wen, Liu Rengong would probably commit suicide rather than surrender.

December

The next day after Baijian finished arranging all matters in Hebei and returned to Kaifeng, he learned that there had been changes in the State of Liang.

Zhu Youzhen, the Prince of Jun who was guarding Chang'an, launched a coup and colluded with Yuan Xiangxian and Zhao Yan, the son-in-law of the emperor, in Luoyang city.

Taking advantage of the fact that Zhu Yougui did not win the hearts of old ministers and veteran generals, he led the Longxiang Army, a group of imperial guards stationed in the capital, to rebel.

Led by Yuan Xiangxian, they rushed into the palace, killed Zhu Yougui, and took control of Luoyang.

Zhao Yan took the imperial seal and went all the way to Chang'an, inviting Zhu Youzhen to Luoyang to ascend the throne.

But Zhu Youzhen insisted on proclaiming himself emperor in Chang'an.

On September 28th of this month, Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne in Chang'an and renovated the palace. He demoted Zhu Yougui to a commoner, abolished the "Fengli" era name set by Zhu Yougui, and restored the "Qianhua" era name of Zhu Wen's reign.

(End of this chapter)