Chapter 76 167 Hun Yu and Li Sheng

After Li Xilie launched the rebellion, he sent troops to besiege Xiangcheng (now Xiangcheng, Henan).Xiangcheng is in danger, and Luoyang is also in a hurry.In 783 A.D., Tang Dezong mobilized troops from Jingyuan (now the north of Jingchuan County, Gansu Province) from the northwest to reinforce Xiangcheng.Jingyuan Jiedu envoy Yao Lingyan received the order and brought 5,000 troops to Chang'an. When the Jingyuan soldiers heard that the imperial court ordered the transfer, they thought that there must be some kind of reward (sound kao).When we arrived in Chang'an, it was raining, and the soldiers were soaked and shivering with cold.The next day, the officials of the imperial court took the rations to work in the army.When the soldiers saw that they were all rough rice and cold dishes, they were very disappointed. They kicked over the rice jars and shouted: "We are risking our lives to fight the enemy. We don't even let the food be full, and we don't even have enough food." What battle are you fighting?"

A soldier stood up and said: "They don't give it to the officials, let's get it ourselves! Chang'an has a lot of money and silk. I heard that there are two official treasuries on both sides of the palace, and there are too many money and silk in them. Everyone go Take it!" After such agitation, the soldiers were even more enraged.Regardless of the obstruction of the generals, everyone swarmed into the city in a chaotic manner. Someone reported Tang Dezong, and Dezong panicked, and quickly sent eunuchs with twenty carts of money and silk to comfort the soldiers.The enraged soldiers ignored them at all. They killed the eunuch and rushed to the palace with all their might.

When Tang Dezong heard that the rebels were about to enter the palace, he wanted to call the imperial guards to resist.But those imperial guards were very corrupt. When they heard that the Jingyuan soldiers were making trouble, they didn't dare to stand out.Dezong had no choice but to take Jizi, the prince and the princess and fled from the back garden to Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi) for refuge. When the soldiers entered the government and heard that the emperor had escaped, they opened the government treasury, and those who took the money took the money, and those who took the silk and satin took the silk and satin.Finally, they found Jiedu envoy Yao Lingyan and asked him for an idea.Yao Lingyan said, it's better to invite Taiwei Zhu Xi (sound ci) to be the leader.

Zhu Xi was originally the Jiedu envoy of Jingyuan.Because his younger brother Zhu Tao rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and implicated him, Tang Dezong lifted his military power and stayed in Chang'an under the name of Taiwei.He was originally an ambitious man.Now Jingyuan soldiers embrace him as the leader, why don't they want to? Zhu Xi took over the military power in Chang'an, and a group of frustrated politicians and generals supported him.When Zhu Xi gained strength, he set up a new court in Chang'an, proclaimed himself Emperor of Qin, and personally led troops to attack Fengtian.

Tang Dezong fled to Fengtian, and just took a breath when Zhu Xi had already called.Fortunately, General Hun Yan (sound jian) of the Imperial Guard arrived.Hun Yu was originally a general under Guo Ziyi, a very prestigious general, and it was only when he led the soldiers to resist Zhu Xi that the hearts of the people settled down. Zhu Zhidu led the rebels to attack Fengtian City.Hun Yan led the soldiers to fight bloody day and night.Zhu Xi tried his best to attack for a month, but he still couldn't take it.Zhu Xi was in a hurry, and sent someone to build a very large ladder to attack the city.Hun Yan dug a tunnel beside the city wall. The tunnel was filled with dry firewood, and a large number of turpentine torches were prepared at the top of the city.The rebel soldiers climbed up the ladder one after another, and arrows from outside the city rained into the city, and it seemed that the city was about to be breached.All of a sudden, the ladders sank into the tunnel, and the burning dry wood in the tunnel gave off smoke and fire. The Tang army on the top of the city threw down torches and set the ladders on fire. The fire blazed, and the soldiers on the ladders were burned to death , fell down.

Hun Yu led the defenders in the city to fight out from all the gates, and defeated Zhu's rebels. At this time, two support troops came from the outskirts of Fengtian, one led by Li Huaiguang, the Jiedu envoy of Shuofang, and the other led by Li Sheng (sound cheng), the general of the Shence Army.Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhu Xi quickly withdrew the siege of Fengtian and retreated to Chang'an. Tang Dezong ordered Li Huaiguang and Li Sheng to take advantage of the victory to recover Chang'an.Unexpectedly, when Li Huaiguang arrived in Xianyang, he secretly colluded with Zhu Shi to oppose Tang Dynasty together.Li Sheng arrived outside the city of Chang'an, with Zhu Xi in front and Li Huaiguang behind, with no food inside and no reinforcements outside, the situation was extremely dangerous.

Li Sheng is a courageous and resourceful person.He encouraged the soldiers with his courage and determination, so that the morale of the Tang army was always strong.The Tang army near Chang'an all voluntarily accepted Li Sheng's command.Li Huaiguang wanted to order his soldiers to attack Li Sheng, but the soldiers refused.Li Huaiguang became frightened and fled to the river first. As soon as Li Huaiguang fled, Zhu Shi became isolated. Hun Yu defended Fengtian, and also echoed with Li Sheng, advancing towards Chang'an.The Tang army was so powerful that Zhu Xi was so frightened that he huddled in the city of Chang'an and dared not come out.

Li Sheng summoned his generals to discuss how to attack the city.The generals said: "Of course we should first conquer the outer city, occupy the neighborhood, and then attack the palace." Li Sheng said: "The neighborhood is narrow. If we fight the enemy on the street, we will hurt the people. I heard that the enemy has a heavy army in the imperial garden behind the palace. We might as well open the city wall from the north and concentrate our forces to attack the imperial garden. In this way, the palace will not Even if it is destroyed, the people will not be disturbed."

Everyone admired Li Sheng's thoughtfulness.Then, Li Sheng dispatched his generals to attack and destroy the enemy troops outside the city first.Finally, the north wall of the city was opened, and a large number of infantry and cavalry stormed the royal garden together.Zhu Xi couldn't resist, so he had to leave Chang'an and flee.The soldiers who were too late to escape also surrendered. Li Sheng entered Chang'an and issued an order to the entire army, saying: "The residents of Chang'an have suffered enough from the rebels, so don't disturb them any more." In 784 AD, Li Sheng regained Chang'an, and Zhu Xi was killed.Tang Dezong returned to Chang'an.A year later, Hun Yan attacked Hezhong again and wiped out Li Huaiguang.Li Xilie, who claimed to be Emperor Chu, lost several battles and was killed by his generals.

Li Sheng and Hun Yu made great contributions to maintaining the unity of the Tang Dynasty.The Tubo nobles were afraid that they would gain military power, which would be unfavorable to them, so they adopted a strategy of alienation.Tang Dezong was jealous of the heroes, but he fell into the trap of the Tubo nobles and withdrew Li Sheng's military power, and the shence army was under the control of the eunuchs.Since then, the separatism of feudal towns has not been resolved, and the power of eunuchs has grown.