Chapter 11 The revolution has not yet succeeded, and Li Chun still needs to work hard

From the first month of the fifth year of Yuanhe (810 A.D.), various soldiers and horses of the imperial court launched attacks on Chengde from all directions, but until March, this massive campaign of encirclement and suppression never achieved any substantive results. Progress. The irony is that in the three-month battle, the only one who helped the court achieve results was neither the coach Tutu Chengcui nor the other soldiers sent by the court, but Lu Longjie who was persuaded by Tan Zhong The degree envoy Liu Ji. In the first month of this year, when other soldiers and horses were still on the way, Liu Ji personally led an army of 70,000 to capture Raoyang (now Raoyang County, Hebei Province) and Shulu (now Xinji City, Hebei Province) in Chengde.In the next two months, Liu Ji continued to go south and besieged Leshou (now Xianxian County, Hebei), but he couldn't attack for a long time.During this period, other crusades from all walks of life did nothing.After Lu Congshi of Zhaoyi entered the territory of Chengde, he always waited and waited and stayed on the sidelines; Fan Xichao of Hedong and Zhang Maozhao of Yiwu advanced to Xinshi Town (now northeast of Zhengding, Hebei), but they could not break through the defense line of Chengde Army. It has been unable to advance half a step; as for Wei Bo's Tian Ji'an and Pinglu's Li Shidao, they have all communicated with Wang Chengzong in private, so they each "fight" the next county and stand still. No one can expect them to have anything else action.

What makes people feel the most ridiculous is that the most useless of all soldiers and horses is none other than the Shence Army led by the coach Tutu Chengcui.Since entering the battlefield, this central imperial army with the best equipment and the best treatment has never won a single battle. Not only did they lose frequently in battles, but they also lost one of their brave generals, Li Dingjin, early on. Li Dingjin is the great general of Zuo Shence, who has always been the champion of the three armies. He even captured Liu Pi alive when he conquered Xichuan.The heroic general died at once, and the already depressed morale became even more slack.

Youdao is a raging soldier, and a raging nest.The main responsibility for the repeated defeats of the Shence Army is of course the coach Tutu Chengcui.According to historical records, "spit out and Chengcui went to the camp, and the prestige was weak", so "the battle with Chengzong was defeated repeatedly". (Volume 238) Seeing that the battle in Heshuo was in a stalemate, Wu Shaoyang of Huaixi took the opportunity to make repeated appearances and asked the imperial court to give him a formal appointment.Xianzong was worried that if he did not recognize Wu Shaoyang for a long time, he might force him to rebel. In desperation, he had no choice but to appoint Wu Shaoyang as the queen of Huaixi in March of this year.

Tutu Chengcui's command is ineffective, and all the soldiers and horses have made no progress. If this battle continues like this, the imperial court has no chance of winning at all. The only result can only be loss of teachers and money.All the ministers in the court were impatient, and hurriedly asked Bai Juyi, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, to come forward and Shangshuli persuaded the emperor to stop the army. Bai Juyi said in the memorial: "Hebei should not have used troops. Now that the army has been dispatched, Tutu Chengcui has not suffered a hard battle. He lost a general first. As the main force, the Shence Army and the Zhaoyi Army failed to advance. They deliberately procrastinate because they are powerless to attack; as for the other troops, the battle situation is mostly not good. Your Majesty observes this situation, how much hope is there for success? In my humble opinion, I should stop the army immediately. If you hesitate If it is not decided, there will be four major harms."

Bai Juyi said the four major harms are: 1. If you are sure of success in fighting a feudal town, no matter how much you spend, you don't have to worry about it. But if you know you can't win, you shouldn't waste money and food.Since one day of delay will cost one more day, why not strike as soon as possible?If it continues to drag on, in addition to wasting the government's money and people's fat, it will also fatten up the Hebei feudal clans participating in the crusade in vain. 2. Now that the imperial court has recognized Wu Shaoyang from Huaixi, all the vassals in Hebei will definitely use this as an excuse to demand that the imperial court treat him equally. Zhaoxue Wang Chengzong's rebellion charge will have no reason for the imperial court to refuse, and he can only agree to the request of the various vassals.In this way, the power of granting and dismissing is in the hands of the vassals, and the court is not in charge of favors, punishments and rewards. Doesn’t the central authority belong to Hebei?

3. The weather is turning hot right now, and the frontline soldiers are exhausted physically and mentally. Diseases and plagues will spread in the army in a blink of an eye.What's more, there are more soldiers in the magic strategy than city residents, so it's hard to bear hardships. In case of deserters, they are likely to respond to everyone; if one army is defeated, the other troops will definitely be shaken.If you come to this step, how will the court regret it? 4. Both Tubo and Uyghur planted a large number of spies in the Tang Dynasty, and they could obtain information no matter how big or small they were.Now the imperial court has gathered all the soldiers from all over the world to attack Wang Chengzong, but from last winter to this summer, he has never achieved an inch of success.Therefore, the Tubo and the Uyghurs already knew about the strength of the Tang army's combat effectiveness and the amount of military expenditure.In case they take advantage of the situation and enter the bandits, with today's situation, the imperial court will inevitably be in a difficult situation. When the time comes, there will be wars and disasters, and anything may happen.If so, the security of the country will be seriously threatened.

It should be said that Bai Juyi's earnest remonstrance is very reasonable, because it is not only Bai Juyi's own thoughts, but also represents the common anxiety and anxiety of most courtiers. How does Xianzong feel about this? Of course, Xianzong is more depressed than anyone else at this moment. The evolution of the whole situation was completely beyond his expectations, and it was completely different from Li Jiang's original strategic concept. Hebei, which was originally the most difficult to fight, has now started fighting, and the result is worrying and annoying; Huaixi, which was listed as the primary target, could not be attacked now, and was forced to admit it.

Although Xianzong knew that Bai Juyi's remonstrance was not unreasonable, he also knew that there was little hope of winning this war, and even once thought of stopping the army, but he was still unwilling to give up.In other words, Xianzong is now on the verge of riding a tiger.At the beginning, almost everyone was opposed to his appointment of Tu Tu Cheng Cui, but he resisted all opinions and insisted on going his own way. Now that Tu Tu Cheng Cui is playing so badly, of course it can only explain one problem, that is, Li Chun has no eyesight and uses non people. Xianzong really couldn't afford to lose this face.

Therefore, no matter how badly Tutu Chengcui played, and no matter how depressing and tangled the battle in Hebei was, he could only survive with a little luck and see if he could survive a miracle. Unfortunately, in the summer of this year, instead of waiting for a miracle, Xianzong waited for a piece of news that upset him even more. The news was sent by Zhaoyi Jiedu envoy Lu Congshi.In his memorial to Xianzong, he desperately accused the various armies of secretly colluding with Chengde, and advised the court not to order the army to advance; Promoted to prime minister.At that time, many Jiedu envoys held central official positions remotely, such as "Taiwei", "Zhongshu Ling", "Tongping Zhangshi", etc. Although they had no real power, they were enough to elevate their status and status.

After receiving Lu Congshi's memorial, Xianzong's head became big all at once. After thinking about it, he felt that Lu Congshi's behavior was really abnormal.When Chengde was going to be conquered, he was the first one in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty (except Tu Tu Cheng Cui) to jump out and support with his hands, but when the war broke out, he always waited and waited. Now he accuses other generals of colluding with Wang Chengzong ...Should the imperial court trust him? In order to find out the truth, Emperor Xianzong ordered Prime Minister Pei Ji to contact Wang Yiyuan, the general of the Zhaoyi Ministry who had submitted the memorial to the court, to see if he could get something out of him.Pei Jie immediately summoned Wang Yiyuan and did some in-depth and meticulous ideological and political work on him. He was moved with emotion, understood with reason, and of course exerted pressure to some extent, and finally forced him to tell the truth.

What is the truth? The truth is that Lu Congshi called the thief to catch the thief. It turned out that it was none other than Lu Congshi himself who colluded with Wang Chengzong. Since the start of the war, Lu Congshi has been communicating with Wang Chengzong in secret, and ordered his subordinates to hide the banner of Chengde in order to create chaos on the battlefield; military spending.There are various indications that Lu Congshi is raising the bandits' self-respect, and taking advantage of the contradictions of all parties to reap the benefits of the fisherman. When Wang Yiyuan shook off all these tricks of Lu Congshi, Xianzong was shocked. He never expected that what he reused would be such a thing. Pei Jie said to Xianzong: "Lu Congshi is insidious and arrogant, and sooner or later he will make trouble. According to Wang Yiyuan's account, Lu Congshi and Tutu Chengcui's camp faced each other, and Lu Congshi regarded Tutu Chengcui as a A three-year-old child is unprepared when he comes and goes, His Majesty should use this opportunity to subdue Lu Congshi and relieve him of his military power, lest he grow up in the future and the court will send out a large army to crusade." It is a taboo for military strategists to change generals before the battle.However, if a guy like Lu Congshi is a double-faced guy, if he doesn't get rid of it, he will definitely cause more trouble.Xianzong considered it again and again, and finally agreed to Pei Yi's suggestion.Afterwards, Pei Ji ordered Wang Yiyuan to return to the front line, and secretly instigated Wu Chongyin, Lu Congshi's confidant general. After confirming the internal response of the action, Emperor Xianzong immediately issued a secret edict to Tutu Chengcui, ordering him to design and arrest Lu Congshi. At the beginning of April, Tutu Chengcui received the emperor's secret edict and immediately began to formulate an action plan. Tutu Chengcui is not good at fighting, but he can still be a good player if he plays the trick of "please enter the urn". He knew that Lu Congshi was greedy, so he took out the rare treasures in his collection to show off every day, and then invited Lu Congshi to come and enjoy them. Return empty-handed. Lu Congshi was very happy, and from then on he regarded Tutu Chengcui as a confidant. On April 15th, Tu Tu Chengcui ordered Li Ting, the army envoy, to ambush a group of swordsmen behind the big tent, and then invited Lu Congshi to come over to gamble for a while, and enjoy some newly bought treasures along the way.When Lu Congshi heard that there was something to play and something to gain, he happily went to the appointment.But as soon as he stepped into Tutu Chengcui's big tent, the ambush soldiers rushed out, tied him tightly, and then threw him into the prison car that had been prepared, and quickly drove away from the camp. When the guards brought by Lu Congshi were shocked, the prison car where Lu Congshi was imprisoned had already galloped towards Chang'an.The guards tried to catch up, but Tutu Chengcui's men chopped down dozens of people in a row, and the rest had to be captured without a fight. After the news of Lu Congshi's arrest was sent back to his barracks, the troops immediately took up arms and prepared to settle accounts with Tutu Chengcui.But before they rushed out of the gate of the barracks, they were blocked by a person. This person is Wu Chongyin. Wu Chongyin slashed his sword immediately, and yelled: "The emperor has an order to arrest Lu Congshi. Those who obey will be rewarded, and those who disobey the order will be executed!" The soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay, no one dared to move, and finally had to put down their weapons and return to their respective barracks in despair. After smoothing over Lu Congshi, Tutu Chengcui immediately asked for credit for Wu Chongyin and recommended him to be Zhaoyi's queen.Xianzong also believed that Wu Chongyin had made great contributions, so he planned to issue a letter of appointment without careful consideration.But Li Jiang thought it was absolutely impossible.He solemnly proposed to Xianzong that Wu Chongyin should be transferred from Zhaoyi to serve as Heyang Jiedu envoy, and then Meng Yuanyang, the former Heyang Jiedu envoy, should be transferred to Zhaoyi. Xianzong was stunned. Since Wu Chongyin is also appointed as Jiedushi, why is it so troublesome to transfer back and forth? In Li Jiang's view, this is not a trouble, but a necessity. Because the mystery here is too big. First of all, Zhaoyi's strategic location is very important, and it cannot be compared with other feudal towns.Although Zhaoyi’s headquarters is located in Luzhou (now Changzhi City, Shanxi), its subordinate Xingzhou (now Xingtai City, Hebei), Mingzhou (now southeast of Yongnian County, Hebei), and Cizhou (now Cixian, Hebei) are located near the Taihang Mountains. East, deeply wedged into the hinterland of Hebei, intertwined with Chengde and Weibo, and restraining each other, is the only force that the Li and Tang courts can effectively control in this rebellion-hit area, and its strategic value is insignificant.Therefore, it is natural to be cautious about the appointment of the Zhaoyi Jiedushi. Secondly, Lu Congshi, the original governor of Zhaoyi Jiedu, had long been an outdated figure who stood aside. He was able to retake the military power of Zhaoyi because he took refuge in Tutu Chengcui, an official in power, and was not directly appreciated by the Emperor Xianzong. Therefore, he Not grateful to the court.This is a large part of the reason why he has been obedient to the court since his reinstatement.Now, the imperial court had finally removed him, but let the eunuch Tutu Chengcui recommend a successor again, which obviously put the power of punishment and reward for Enwei into Tutu Chengcui's personal hands.After Wu Chongyin succeeds, he will naturally only remember Tutu Chengcui's favor and will not be grateful to the court, so he is likely to repeat the mistakes of Lu Congshi.To avoid such a result, it is necessary to veto Tutu Chengcui's proposal, not to give him a chance to establish a personal favor, and at the same time appoint Wu Chongyin to take up a post in another town, so that he can receive the court's grace and make him not feel bad for the court. Born contemptuous. In the end, since Wu Chongyin is a general of Zhaoyi, there must be many officers who are at the same level or even higher than him in Zhaoyi Town. Thoughts?Will some people refuse to accept it and use their own way to treat their own body?If so, Zhaoyi will surely have no peace.Therefore, the only solution is to transfer Wu Chongyin to another town. After Li Jiang carefully analyzed the pros and cons of the above-mentioned gains and losses to Xianzong, Xianzong finally realized it, and quickly withdrew his orders. In late April, Wu Chongyin was appointed as the governor of Heyang, and Meng Yuanyang was transferred as the governor of Zhaoyi. Although the imperial court solved Lu Congshi, who was struggling from inside and outside, the battle situation in Hebei still did not improve. In June of the fifth year of Yuanhe, that is, half a year after the start of the war, there was still no major progress in the war.Except for Fan Xichao of Hedong and Zhang Maozhao of Yiwu who fought a victory in April, and Liu Ji of Lulong who conquered an Anping County in May, none of the other ministries had any gains. Hanlin scholar Bai Juyi couldn't bear it anymore, he went to Shu Xianzong again, and said: "Your Majesty has repeatedly called for a strike, but nothing has come of it. Please look at the situation today. It is worse than before. I wonder what Your Majesty is waiting for?" This Bai Juyi's words really went too far. Xianzong was in a bad mood, but this great poet was always buzzing in his ears, and he always spoke in such an aggressive tone.Once Xianzong had a face-to-face discussion with him, when Bai Juyi got excited, he blurted out: "Your Majesty is wrong!" which made Xianzong's face red and white, and finally walked away angrily. Since Emperor Xianzong ascended the throne, every major military affairs must be discussed with Hanlin scholars.To some extent, the functions of the Imperial Academy at this time have undergone qualitative changes compared with those in the Xuan and Su years, and its status and role have been greatly improved.In the past, Hanlin scholars were just the emperor's literary or artistic attendants, and they rarely had the opportunity to participate in major decision-making of the court. However, with the reuse of Hanlin scholars after Emperor Xianzong came to the throne, today's Hanlin Academy has almost taken on the nature of a cabinet. The bachelors basically became uncrowned prime ministers; especially Li Jiang, who was later promoted to Hanlin Chengzhi (equivalent to the dean and chief bachelor of the Hanlin Academy), was the senior think tank that Emperor Xianzong relied on most, and influenced the imperial court to a large extent. He has a greater role and influence than the prime minister (such as Pei Yi) in directing the decision-making of the court and the various major policies of the empire. However, since the war in Hebei fell into the quagmire, Emperor Xianzong intentionally or unintentionally ignored this group of Hanlin scholars, and did not meet with them once for more than a month.Of course, the scholars had great opinions. At this time, Li Jiang, who had been promoted to Hanlin Chengzhi, even bluntly said to Xianzong: "The ministers are full of food all day long and don't say a word. Naturally, they are happy and leisurely. But what should your majesty do? Your majesty used to be open and honest. It is really a blessing for the world, not just for the ministers!" When Xianzong heard this, he felt that he was wrong, and hurriedly announced that he would summon all the scholars in Linde Hall the next day. In fact, it's not that Xianzong didn't want to see them, but he didn't dare to see them.Especially the great poet Bai Juyi, Xianzong was even more afraid of him, so although Xianzong agreed to meet with the scholars, he made a condition with Li Jiang: "That Bai Juyi is not a big official, but his tone is not small, and he often speaks rudely. , I intend to let him leave the Imperial Academy." Li Jiang didn't sympathize with Xianzong at all, saying: "Your Majesty has the tolerance to speak out, and the officials dare to be loyal and outspoken. Although Bai Juyi's words are thoughtless, he is also sincere. Your Majesty blamed him today, and the ministers are worried about the ruling and the opposition. With everyone jaws up, how can His Majesty be able to keep his ears and eyesight, and his holiness always protected?" Xianzong thought about it for a while, and immediately turned his anger into joy. From then on, he treated Bai Juyi as usual, and never mentioned the matter of dismissal again.Although he felt uncomfortable, he still listened to Li Jiang's words. Obviously, Xianzong was an emperor with a heart. To judge whether a person is material for great things, one of the simplest criteria is to look at his attitude towards criticism.People who jump once when they say a word, or jump twice when they are scolded, are fleas, and they are destined to be hard-pressed; and those who are willing to be criticized have a limitless future.Because he knows that criticism is good for his growth, and he is good at drawing constructive things from criticism.Therefore, to judge whether an emperor can achieve great achievements, it also depends on whether he has the generosity to accept advice.An emperor who is willing to accept criticism from his subordinates, even if he cannot become a wise emperor, at least he is far away from mediocrity; while an emperor who is furious against advice at every turn, his bearing and conduct are unquestionable, let alone achieve great things. Although Xianzong at this time was troubled by the stalemate war in Hebei, he did not dare to hope for any great achievements of the emperor, but based on his attitude in the face of remonstrance, we have reason to believe that this emperor is unusual, at least more virtuous than his grandfather. Zong is reliable. At the same time, we also have reasons to believe that what Emperor Dezong Li Shi tried his best to do but couldn't do, will probably be accomplished by this Xianzong Li Chun in the end. Of course, if Xianzong wanted to see the rainbow in his life, he had to get through the current storm first. The revolution has not yet succeeded, and Li Chun still needs to work hard. In July of the fifth year of Yuanhe, the extremely tangled war in Hebei finally had a result.Wang Chengzong sent envoys to the court to defend himself, saying that what he did was the result of Lu Congshi's instigation, and expressed his willingness to return the power of collecting taxes and appointing and dismissing officials to the central government, and asked the court to allow him to reform. After Wang Chengzong's memorial was submitted, the helpless Xianzong finally waited for an opportunity to get off the donkey, so he hurriedly issued an order to "Zhaoxue" Wang Chengzong, not only restored all his official titles, but also returned the two states of De and Di. he. It is worth noting that the word used by the Xianzong imperial court in this edict is "Zhaoxue" instead of the commonly used "pardon".What is the difference between these two words? Of course not. "Absolution" is used for those who have committed crimes, while "Zhaoxue" is used for those who have been wronged.In other words, the court's use of the word "Zhaoxue" is equivalent to voluntarily admitting its own mistakes, and at the same time it shows that Wang Chengzong has not committed any crimes and has been wronged from beginning to end. Although this result is very unpleasant, it is finally a closure. A vigorous crusade war died down like this.The Li Tang court spent more than half a year, sent more than 200,000 troops, and spent more than 7 million yuan. In the end, they got nothing but replacing Lu Congshi, the governor of Zhaoyi. Xianzong Li Chun felt that he was completely useless. The self-confidence built up when the San Francisco was pacified four years ago was wiped out at this moment, and the superficial authority that the Li and Tang courts had been desperately maintaining for the past four years also collapsed at this moment. In the summer of the fifth year of Yuanhe, there was heavy rain over the Daming Palace. Thirty-three-year-old Xianzong Li Chun stared at the leaden sky for a long time, his eyes dim and his expression confused.It is said that the rainbow always comes after the storm, but after all, no one can predict the future.Therefore, even if the rainbow of "Yuanhe Zhongxing" will eventually shine brightly in the sky of the empire ten years later, at this moment, Xianzong Li Chun can only silently chew on the taste of failure in the five years of Yuanhe...