Chapter 80 171 Li Yan goes to Caizhou at night in the snow

Among the feudal vassals, Huaixi is a stubborn separatist force.In 814 AD, Wu Shaoyang, the governor of Huaixi, died, and his son Wu Yuanji became independent.Tang Xianzong sent troops to conquer Huaixi, but the commander he sent was either a corrupt bureaucrat or he had other plans.As a result, it took three full years of work and a lot of money, but all failed.The officials of the imperial court thought that the fighting could not continue, but the minister Pei Du thought that Huaixi was like a sore on his body, which must be cured.Tang Xianzong worshiped Pei Du as prime minister, determined to continue to conquer Huaixi.

In 817 A.D., the imperial court sent Li Min as the envoy of Tangzhou (now Tanghe, Henan) and other three states, and asked him to attack Wu Yuanji's old nest Caizhou (now Runan, Henan). The soldiers in Tangzhou had fought for several years, but they were unwilling to fight again. When they heard that Li Yan was coming, they were a little worried.When Li Yan arrived in Tangzhou, he announced to the officials: "I am a cowardly and incompetent person. The imperial court sent me here to establish local order. As for beating Wu Yuanji, it is none of my business." The news reached Wu Yuanji.Wu Yuanji had won several battles, so he was already a little proud. When he heard that Li Yan didn't know how to fight, he didn't take his precautions to heart.

From then on, Li Tan never mentioned the fight against Huaixi. There were many sick and injured soldiers in Tangzhou City, and Li Tan's family came to condolences, without any airs of officialdom.The soldiers were very grateful to him. Once, when Li Tan's soldiers were patrolling the border, they encountered a small group of Huaixi soldiers. The two sides fought for a while. The Tang army beat the Huaixi soldiers away and captured a small Huaixi army officer Ding Shiliang alive. Ding Shiliang was a brave general under Wu Yuanji. He often led people to invade the Tangzhou area. Many people in the Tang army had suffered from him and hated him very much.This time he was captured alive, and everyone begged Li Yan to kill him to avenge the dead Tang soldiers.

The soldiers escorted Ding Shiliang to Li Yan.Li Yan ordered the soldiers to untie him, and asked him nicely why he rebelled with Wu Yuanji.Ding Shiliang was not a Huaixi soldier, but was captured by Wu Yuanji. Seeing how lenient Li Yan treated him, he surrendered. With the help of Ding Shiliang, Li Yan took down Huaixi's strongholds - Wenchengzha and Xingqiaozha, and successively subdued two surrendered generals, one named Li You and the other named Li Zhongyi.Knowing that these two men were courageous and resourceful, Li Yan trusted them with all his heart, and secretly discussed with them the plan to attack Caizhou. Sometimes the discussion lasted until late at night, and Li Yan's generals were very upset about this matter. , There was an uproar in the barracks, saying that Li You was sent by the enemy as an internal response.Some even said with evidence that the captured enemy spies also confessed that Li Yan was a spy.

Li Yan was afraid that these gossips would spread to the imperial court and Tang Xianzong would believe them, and he would not be able to protect Li Zhen even if he wanted to protect him, so he announced to everyone: "Since everyone thinks Li Zhen is unreliable, I will send him to Chang'an, please." Your Majesty, please let me go." He ordered the soldiers to put Li You in shackles and escorted him to Chang'an. At the same time, he secretly sent someone to send a memorial to the court, saying that he and Li You had made a plan to capture Caizhou. If Li You was killed, the plan would be to attack Caizhou. It also blew.

Tang Xianzong received Li Yan's secret performance, ordered Li You to be released, and told him to return to Tangzhou to assist Li Yan. When Li You returned to Tangzhou, Li Yan was very happy to see him. He held his hand and said, "It is a blessing to the country that you can come back safely." Then, he was immediately appointed as a military officer and asked him to carry weapons In and out of camp.Li You knew that Li Yan tried everything to protect him, and was so moved that he secretly cried bitterly. Not long after, Prime Minister Pei Du personally went to Huaixi to supervise the battle.It turned out that eunuchs supervised the battles of all Tang armies, and the generals had no command power.It is the eunuch's credit to win a battle, but it is the general's turn to punish him when he loses a battle.When Pei Du arrived in Huaixi, he found this situation and immediately asked Tang Xianzong to revoke the eunuch's right to supervise the formation.The generals were very excited when they heard this decision.

Li You suggested to Li Min: "Wu Yuanji's elite soldiers are all stationed in Huiqu (now southwest of Shangshui, Henan Province) and on the four borders. Those guarding Caizhou are just old and weak soldiers. We seize his gap and attack Caizhou directly. It is no problem to capture Wu Yuanji alive." Li Yan secretly sent someone to tell Pei Du about this plan.Pei Du also supported him, saying: "War is to win by surprise, you can figure it out." Li Yan ordered Li You and Li Zhongyi to lead 3,000 elite soldiers to serve as the vanguard, and he himself led the central army and rear guards to set off one after another.Except for Li Yan and Li You, no one knew where they were going.Someone asked Li Min secretly, and Li Min said, "Just go east!"

After driving for sixty miles, I arrived at Zhangchai Village.The Huaixi soldiers guarding there were defenseless, and were all wiped out by the vanguard led by Li You.Li Yan occupied Zhangchai Village, ordered the soldiers to rest for a while, and then left a group of soldiers to guard Zhangchai Village and cut off the road leading to Huiqu.After everything was arranged properly, he ordered to continue marching overnight. The generals asked Li Min again where to go, and Li Min announced: "Go to Caizhou and capture Wu Yuanji!" Some of the generals were defeated by Wu Yuanji, and when they heard this order, their faces changed in fright.The eunuch overseeing the army was very timid, so anxious that he burst into tears and said, "As expected, we have fallen into Li You's scheme."

At this time, the sky is dark, the north wind is blowing harder and harder, and the snow like goose feathers is getting denser and denser.The road from Zhangchai Village to Caizhou is a trail that Tang Jun has never walked.Everyone complained secretly, but Li Min was very strict with the army on weekdays, and no one dared to disobey the military orders. In the middle of the night, the soldiers traveled another seventy miles through the thick snow before reaching the edge of Caizhou City.There happened to be a pond near the city where geese and ducks were raised, and the cries of the geese and ducks covered the noise of the people and horses.

Li You and Li Zhongyi ordered the soldiers to dig ridges one by one on the city wall. They took the lead in climbing up the city by stepping on the ridges, and the soldiers followed suit.The Huaixi soldiers guarding the city were sleeping soundly. The Tang army killed them, leaving only one to beat the watch, and told him to beat the clapper to beat the watch.Then, open the city gate and let Li Yan's army enter the city. When the army arrived in the inner city, they also successfully entered the city in this way, and the Huaixi army in the inner city did not notice it at all. When the rooster crowed for the first time, the sky was getting brighter and the snow had stopped.Tang Jun has occupied Wu Yuanji's outer courtyard, and Wu Yuanji is still sleeping in the back room.A Huaixi soldier discovered Tang Jun and rushed into the back room to report to Wu Yuanji: "It's not good, the officers and soldiers have arrived."

Wu Yuanji lay lazily on the bed and didn't want to get up. He said with a smile, "This must be the criminals making trouble. I'll clean them up after dawn." As soon as he finished speaking, another soldier rushed in angrily and said, "The gate of the city has been opened by the officers and soldiers." Wu Yuanji felt strange and said, "Probably Huiqu sent someone to ask us for cold clothes!" Wu Yuanji got up, only to hear the sound of shouting orders in the courtyard: "Changshi is delivering the order..." (Changshi is Li Min's official title) Then, thousands of soldiers responded.Only then did Wu Yuanji become frightened, and said, "What kind of regular attendant is this? Why did he come here to deliver the order?" As he spoke, he led several trusted soldiers to climb up the courtyard wall to resist. Li Yan said to the soldiers: "Wu Yuanji dared to resist because he still has 10,000 elite soldiers in Huiqu, waiting for rescue from there." Dong Zhongzhi, the Huaixi general stationed in Huiqu, lives in Caizhou.Li Yan sent people to comfort Dong Chongzhi's family, and sent Dong Chongzhi's son to Huiqu to persuade him to surrender.Seeing that the general situation was over, Dong Zhongzhi rushed to Caizhou to surrender to Li Yan. Li Yan ordered the soldiers to continue to attack the courtyard wall, smashed the outer gate, and occupied the armory.Wu Yuanji still wanted to rely on the courtyard wall to resist.The next day, Li Yan set fire to the south gate of the courtyard wall.The people in Caizhou had had enough of Wu Yuanji's suffering, and they all came to help Tang Jun with firewood. The arrows shot by Tang Jun soldiers into the inner courtyard were as dense as hedgehog hairs. When the sun went down, the inner courtyard was finally breached. Wu Yuanji had no choice but to beg for surrender. Li Yan won a complete victory. While escorting Wu Yuanji to Chang'an in a prison cart, he sent someone to report the results of the battle to Prime Minister Pei Du. The news that Pei Du and Li Yan pacified Huaixi and captured Wu Yuanji alive spread to Hebei, which shocked the Hebei feudal towns, and they all expressed their obedience to the government.The situation of the rebellion in the feudal towns of the Tang Dynasty finally stabilized temporarily.