Chapter 4 Fanzhen: The galloping horse (Part 2)

Zhangyi Town (Government of Caizhou, today's Runan County, Henan Province) was originally Li Xilie's Huaining Town, also known as Huaixi Town. It was renamed Zhangyi in the first month of the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798 AD).This place was originally a hard-hit area during the rebellion of the feudal vassals. It was not only the last one to be pacified among the rebellious feudal vassals, but also was pacified very reluctantly. The imperial court just recognized him, so as to eliminate the soldiers and misfortunes, and make peace. In September of the fourteenth year of Zhenyuan, Wu Shaocheng brazenly sent troops to loot Shouzhou (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) and Huoshan (now Huoshan County, Anhui Province) in Huainan Town, beheaded the guard Xie Yang, and killed him with a radius of more than 50 years. Take the land as your own.

Before the imperial court could respond, in March of the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan, Wu Shaocheng sent troops to attack Tangzhou (now Qinyang County, Henan Province), which belonged to Shannan Dongdao. and go. In August of the same year, Chen Xu (the governor of Xuzhou, now Xuchang City, Henan Province) Jiedu envoy Qu Huan died, and Wu Shaocheng took the opportunity to plunder Linying (now Linying County, Henan Province) and Chenzhou (now Henan Province, Henan) in Chenxu Town. Huaiyang County), causing the people of the Central Plains to panic all day long... In the past few years, although Xuanwu Town had been in constant trouble, they were all civil strife and did not affect the jurisdiction of the neighboring feudal towns.But right now, Wu Shaocheng made it clear that he wanted to expand his territory by force and swallow up the jurisdiction of neighboring feudal towns. His ambition was no less than that of Li Xilie back then, and his actions had constituted a naked rebellion.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Emperor Dezong quickly appointed Chen Xuliu, the governor of Chenzhou, as Chen Xuliu, and ordered him to stop Wu Shaocheng's troops at all costs.Shangguan Wei then sent his general Wang Lingzhong to lead 3,000 men to stop Wu Shaocheng, but he was ambushed instead, and all 3,000 soldiers were captured. In September, Wu Shaocheng took advantage of the victory and entered Xuzhou. Shangguan was terrified and prepared to abandon the city and flee.The general Liu Changyi tried his best to dissuade him, saying: "The troops in the city are enough to deal with Wu Shaocheng. As long as we close the city gates and don't fight with him, his momentum will definitely fail in a few days. And we are waiting for work. We will wait for the opportunity to send troops when the time comes, and we will definitely be able to Break the enemy."

After hearing the words, Shangguan finally calmed down and gave up the idea of ​​running away, but he still couldn't muster up the courage to defend against the enemy, so he had to hand over the responsibility of defending the city to Liu Changyi. From Shangguan's performance, it is not difficult to see Dezong's ability to know and employ people.If there was no ordinary general named Liu Changyi in Xuzhou City, Wu Shaocheng could take Xuzhou without bloodshed, annex Chen Xu, and threaten Dongdu.If so, the consequences will be disastrous. Fortunately, Xuzhou City also has a brave and resourceful general, Liu Changyi.

Wu Shaocheng stormed around Xuzhou day and night, but the city defenders, under the command of Liu Changyi, stubbornly repelled the attacks of the Zhangyi Army.Just as the fierce battle between the two sides was in full swing, a ghost appeared in Xuzhou City. This person is An Guoning, the military envoy of Chen Xudu. Because he has always been at odds with Shangguan, he wants to take this opportunity to surrender to Wu Shaocheng.Unexpectedly, Liu Changyi had already paid more attention to him.Before An Guoning could mobilize, Liu Changyi planned to capture him, and beheaded him immediately.Afterwards, Liu Changyi knew that An Guoning's subordinates would definitely not accept, so he called them together, gave each of them two bolts of silk, and asked them to be demobilized and return to their hometown immediately.

These people stared at Liu Changyi's ancestors in their hearts, but they didn't dare to attack, so they obediently took off their military uniforms, put down their weapons, and went out of the city with two horses of silk on their backs. Just outside the city is Wu Shaocheng's military camp, will this gang of resentful guys... Yes, Liu Changyi already guessed.Just before the severance pay was issued, Liu Changyi had sent troops to ambush outside the city.He said to the ambush soldiers: "As long as you see two silks on the back, I will cut them off." It turned out that these two pieces of silk were not severance pay, but reminders.

There was no suspense about what happened afterwards—these people were hacked and killed one after another by ambushes on the side of the road as soon as they left the city, and none of them escaped. Liu Changyi was obviously a bit ruthless in doing so.But these days, if you are not cruel to others, you are cruel to yourself.Therefore, Liu Changyi has no choice. After solving the inner ghost, Liu Changyi can deal with Wu Shaocheng with all his strength. A few days later, Liu Changyi discovered that the morale of the Zhangyi Army had declined, so he recruited 1,000 death-defying soldiers, went out of the city late at night to launch a surprise attack, and finally defeated the Zhangyi Army.Wu Shaocheng couldn't attack Xuzhou, so he turned to Xihua (now Xihua County, Henan Province), but was repelled by the local defender Meng Yuanyang.

After hearing the news of Wu Shaocheng's setback, Dezong quickly issued an edict to remove all his officials and titles, and at the same time ordered all nearby departments to send troops together to encircle and suppress Wu Shaocheng. After the feudal towns were ordered to send troops, they also fought a few victories at the beginning. However, the allied forces have a fatal weakness, that is, each has its own little calculations, and no one listens to the other.Every feudal town wants to gain as much territory as possible, but they all want to preserve their strength, so the result is that they fight on their own, with no basis for advancing or retreating.

In late December, Wu Shaocheng took advantage of his opponent's weakness and defeated the allied forces in the area of ​​Xiaolushui (north of today's Yancheng County, Henan).All the weapons, luggage, supplies, food and grass of each army were discarded, and all fell into Wu Shaocheng's hands. When the report of the defeat was reported back to Chang'an, Dezong was shocked, and hurriedly discussed with the ministers, planning to find a recruiter to be the commander of the allied forces, coordinate the attack and defense, and unify the command, so that Wu Shaocheng would not take advantage of each other's fighting.

In the first month of the 16th year of Zhenyuan (800 A.D.), the four towns of Hengji, Yiding, Chenxu and Heyang once again joined forces to attack Wu Shaocheng, but they were all defeated by him and had to retreat to the town one by one. If a commander-in-chief is not appointed immediately, this battle cannot be fought. In February, Dezong chose among the feudal vassals, and finally chose Han Quanyi, the governor of Xia Sui (Xiazhou, north of Jingbian County, Shaanxi).This person came from the Shence Army, and was a confidant of Dou Wenchang, the eunuch in power and lieutenant of Shence.Dou Wenchang strongly recommended to Dezong, saying that as long as Han Quanyi goes out, he will definitely capture Wu Shaocheng.Dezong was overjoyed, and immediately appointed Han Quanyi as the recruitment envoy, and ordered the seventeen soldiers and horses in Henan and Hebei to be controlled by him.

Is Han Quanyi really as powerful as Dou Wenchang boasted? Liu Mu, the heroic general recommended by Huo Xianming back then, fell over with an ouch and was carried out when the soldiers made trouble, and has since disappeared.This time, can Dou Wenchang recommend anything good?Unfortunately, Han Quanyi is also an idiot. This guy had no military talent, neither courage nor strategy, and his position as Jiedushi was obtained by currying favor with and bribing Dou Wenchang.After he arrived at the front line, he held meetings every day, but every time he held a meeting, he talked and spittled with dozens of eunuchs who supervised the army in the camp. It was already summer at that time, the garrison of the officers and soldiers was humid and hot, and the plague was prevalent in the army, but as the commander in chief, Han Quanyi didn't know how to care for the soldiers at all, so people's hearts were scattered and their morale was extremely low. Dezong Li Shi searched for two months with a pair of piercing eyes, and finally picked such a fool. The result is naturally conceivable. In May of this year, Han Quanyi led the coalition forces of various ways to fight against Wu Shaocheng's generals Wu Xiu and Wu Shaoyang in the southern plain of Wushui (northwest of Xiangcheng County, Henan Province today).The soldiers of the coalition army had no fighting spirit, and they scattered and fled before the battle. Wu Xiu and others took advantage of the situation to cover up and kill them. Han Quanyi hurriedly led his troops back to the fifth floor (now northeast of Shangcai County, Henan Province). In July, the rebels took advantage of the victory to pursue and defeated the allied forces of the imperial court again on the fifth floor. Han Quanyi fled in the dark and retreated to Weishui City (now Shangshui County, Henan Province).In September, Wu Shaocheng personally led his troops to the foot of Lushui City. Han Quanyi fought timidly, and led his troops back to Chenzhou (now Huaiyang County, Henan). Han Quanyi was defeated in several battles, and the generals of the feudal towns completely lost confidence in him. Afterwards, the Xuanwu Army and the Heyang Army left without saying goodbye, and each led their troops back to the town, and the troops in other towns also started to leave.Han Quanyi became furious and summoned Zhaoyi General Xiahou Zhongxuan, Yicheng General Shi Ang, Heyang General Quan Wendu, and Hezhong General Guo Xiang under the pretext of discussing matters, and then beheaded them all to frighten people. When the front line was retreating and the court was at a loss, Wei Gao, the governor of Xichuan, presented a memorial to Emperor Dezong in a very timely manner, and proposed three strategies for the court to deal with the current situation: "I suggest, Appoint veteran Hun Yu and Prime Minister Jia Dan as marshals to lead the frontline armies, and the war will surely turn around (the best policy). If your majesty does not want to work for the veteran ministers, I am willing to lead 10,000 elites from my own way to go out of Jingxiang and swear to fight against them. Destroy the traitors (middle policy). If your Majesty is unwilling to fight any more, Wu Shaocheng should take the initiative to plead guilty, and then pardon him (lower policy). If he does not pardon him, once Wu Shaocheng changes internally and is killed by his subordinates, your majesty can only use Jiedu envoys The festival is once again awarded to the murderer, this is to get rid of one Wu Shaocheng, and another Wu Shaocheng will come, and there will be endless troubles!" When Prime Minister Jia Dan heard that Wei Gao had recommended him to the front line, he was very unhappy and said to Emperor Dezong, "The traitor Wu Shaocheng must also hope to be forgiven. I am afraid that giving him a way out is the best policy." At this time, Dezong certainly didn't want to fight anymore.The seventeen soldiers and horses were beaten to the point of losing their helmets and armor and retreating steadily. What face and reason does the court have to continue fighting? Dezong is also eager to strike a truce immediately.However, if Wu Shaocheng didn't take the initiative to plead guilty, there would be no step for Dezong's court to go down—couldn't he just announce a pardon just because he couldn't beat him? Therefore, whether this war can be stopped depends on Wu Shaocheng's attitude. Fortunately, at this moment Wu Shaocheng also quietly retreated. As soon as Wei Gao's memorial was delivered to the court, Wu Shaocheng's eyeliner in the court immediately revealed the news to him.In Wu Shaocheng's view, if Dezong adopted Wei Gao's best or middle strategy, his chances of winning would be small.Because both Hun Yu and Wei Gao are fierce generals who can conquer and fight well, they are far from what that idiot Han Quanyi can compare to in case.Especially Wei Gao, who has been in charge of the southwestern frontier all these years and has repeatedly defeated the Tubo people.Therefore, Wu Shaocheng was quite timid and suspicious if he really wanted to fight Hun Yu or Wei Gao. After repeated weighing, Wu Shaocheng finally decided to abandon the war and shake hands with the court to make peace. Afterwards, Wu Shaocheng sent a peace letter and a batch of treasures to an eunuch who supervised the army through personal channels, asking him to convey to the court his intention to strike.Dezong was overjoyed when he saw the letter. At the end of December of this year, he issued an edict to pardon Wu Shaocheng and his officers and men for their crimes, and restored all their official positions and titles. The ferocious rebellion came to an abrupt end.Like the rebellion among feudal vassals during the Jianzhong period, it is not so much that Wu Shaocheng's rebellion was put down, it is better to say that Dezong gave up his principles again and adopted a consistent policy of peace and mud. Of course, strictly speaking, Dezong's doing so is no longer called "abandoning principles".Because for a long time, Emperor Dezong and the imperial government he represented had no principles to give up on the affairs of the feudal towns. In other words, when any principle is abandoned for the first time, it can be called abandonment, but after it has been abandoned many times, everything becomes habitual and insensitive. In the words of the common people, can this be called breaking the jar?Or tell them not to bite if there are too many lice, and not to worry about too many debts? And how did Dezong himself understand his behavior?Do we frankly admit that this is a kind of political incompetence that does not think about making progress, or delude ourselves into thinking that it is a kind of political maturity that faces reality? It's hard to say for sure, but the answer is more likely to be the latter. Judging from Dezong's attitude towards Han Quanyi afterwards, we have reason to make such a judgment. In the first month of the seventeenth year of Zhenyuan (801 A.D.), the idiot Han Quanyi returned to Chang'an in disgrace. Dou Wenchang, a powerful eunuch, hurriedly tried his best to defend him in front of Dezong, and helped Han Quanyi find a lot of excuses for his defeat in the war.Han Quanyi was afraid of being punished and dared not go to the court, so he lied that he had a foot disease and asked his deputy Cui Fang to enter the court on his behalf. Cui Fang bit the bullet and went to see Dezong in the palace. He hastily blamed himself for Han Quanyi and apologized in fear. Unexpectedly, Dezong not only did not mean to blame, but said with a smile on his face: "As a recruiter, Han Quanyi can Recruiting Wu Shaocheng is a great achievement, so why kill someone to count as meritorious service?" Afterwards, Dezong still had great trust in Han Quanyi, "the courteous treatment is very generous". Being defeated is considered a meritorious service, and Han Quanyi was flattered to be treated favorably and courteously by the emperor. He believed that his family's ancestral grave must have smoked. Yes, working under a leader like Dezong Li Shi, the ancestral graves of every idiot's family will emit green smoke, without exception. In the late Zhenyuan period, the carriages of the Tang Empire were still creaking forward. Although they walked crookedly and stumbled, they did not seem to be in danger of overturning. Such a discovery made Dezong Li Shi quite complacent. While he was proud, Li Shi suddenly had a certain urge—the urge to be the prime minister himself. Later, Dezong made a political innovation, personally selecting all officials from the county magistrate to the entire empire, so that the prime minister and the Zhongshu province were only responsible for promulgating documents, which was useless. The monopoly of power made Dezong Li Shi full of an unparalleled sense of accomplishment in the last few years of his emperor's career.At this time, if you are worried that he will be overworked due to his daily affairs, then you will underestimate Li Shi too much. He has only one very simple criterion for selecting officials, so no matter how many officials he personally selects, he will not feel tired. This standard is - to see if this person has bribed him. In other words, as long as you can afford the money, the emperor can give you an official position based on the principles of fair exchange and mutual benefit. Regarding Dezong's disguised selling of officials, here is an example: At the end of the 16th year of Zhenyuan, Li Shuo, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, died of illness, and Emperor Dezong ordered Zheng Dan, the Sima of the march, to succeed him as Jiedu envoy.Then there was a vacancy for the post of Marching Sima. After much deliberation, Dezong finally chose a member of the Ministry of Justice named Yan Shou Wailang.The reason why this person was chosen was that Dezong clearly remembered that on a certain day in a certain year, this Yan Shou was still working as a small staff member in a certain feudal town, and he once offered him a "promotion" very sensiblely. At that time, Dezong deliberately wrote down his name.Now that the post of Sima in the Hedong Marching Army is vacant, of course Dezong will reward him with his official position. Regarding this matter, Mr. Bo Yang was extremely indignant: "As the Son of Heaven, Li Shi admired officials who bribed him so much, and he was promoted repeatedly, which is jaw-dropping! China has not been able to establish a clean government for five thousand years. We finally Find out why: it turns out that the supreme leader of the country is himself a king of corruption!" Of course, Emperor Dezong Li Shi is not the only emperor in Chinese history who sells officials, but his glorious resume in this regard must be unique in the 300-year history of this dynasty.In addition to selling officials, Dezong Li Shi also devoted himself to the activities of "extra-tax accumulation". The poor days in exile in Fengtian were so unforgettable, so since returning to Beijing, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty has developed a strong interest in making money, but he was always blocked by prime ministers like Li Bi and Lu Zhi at the beginning.Well now, Li Mi and Lu Zhi are gone, and the current prime minister can only be regarded as the emperor's secretary at best, and he has always bowed to him and obeyed his orders. The "extra-tax radius" and "expenditure envy" poured into the small treasury in the palace in an endless stream, making Dezong Li Shi's small life extremely nourishing... Time flies to the 20th year of Zhenyuan (804 AD).The carriage of the old empire drove slowly into the dawn of the ninth century in seemingly calm. One day in September, Dezong suddenly woke up from his extremely nourishing little life by a disturbing unexpected event-Prince Li Song had a stroke. Not only was the prince paralyzed, but he also lost his language ability all of a sudden. This year, Emperor Dezong Li Shi was sixty-three years old, obviously his time was running out. The emperor is old and the crown prince is disabled.Such a situation immediately made the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty worried - how will the political situation of the empire evolve in the next step?Who will drive this battered imperial carriage?