Chapter 19 The Tree Falls and the Hozen Scatter: The End of Shi Chaoyi

On October 23, the first year of Baoying, Emperor Daizong Li Yu issued an edict ordering the armies of the Tang Dynasty to march into Luoyang from three directions: west, north and east. The West Route Army started from Shanzhou (now Sanmenxia City, Henan Province) and passed through Mianchi (now Mianchi County, Henan Province) with Pugu Huaien and Huihe troops as the vanguard, with Shaanxi Jiedu envoy Guo Yingyi and Shence Guanjun envoy Yu Chaoen behind the hall. ) to the east; the North Route Army, led by Li Baoyu, Zelu Jiedu envoy, set off from Luzhou (now Changzhi City, Shanxi Province) and went south via Heyang (now Mengzhou City, Henan Province); the East Route Army was led by Li Guangbi, then Deputy Marshal of Henan Province Starting from Xuzhou, it went west via Chenliu (now southeast of Kaifeng, Henan).

Shi Chaoyi was shocked when he got the information, and immediately held a military meeting to listen to the opinions of the generals.Ashina Chengqing said: "If the Tang army only sent out Han troops, we could attack with the whole army and fight decisively with them; however, if there were Uighur troops participating in the battle, their front would be unstoppable, and our army should retreat to Heyang to avoid its edge. " Shi Chaoyi pondered for a while, but in the end he did not adopt this suggestion, but decided to stick to Luoyang. At this time, Shi Chaoyi didn't know that this stupid decision would hasten his downfall.

On October 27th, the Tang and Hui coalition forces on the west road took the lead in arriving at the northern suburbs of Luoyang, and divided their troops to attack Huaizhou (now Qinyang City, Henan Province).On the 30th, the Tang and Hui coalition forces arrived at Hengshui (the northern suburb of Luoyang).Tens of thousands of Yan troops built camps here to confront the official army.Pu Gu Huai'en led the attack from the west all the way, and sent Jingqi and Huihe cavalry to detour to the northeast corner of the Yan army's camp, attacking from both sides, and defeated the Yan army in one fell swoop.

Knowing that the troops outside the city were defeated, Shi Chaoyi immediately led 100,000 elite troops out of the city to reinforce them, and lined up around Zhaojue Temple.Taking advantage of the unstable foothold of the Yan army, Tang Jun suddenly launched an attack.The Yan army was caught off guard, and there were many casualties, but they still stood firm.Yu Chaoen sent 500 archers to join the battle, causing more casualties to the Yan army. However, under the personal supervision of Shi Chaoyi, the Yan army was extremely tenacious and still stood firm. This is a very dangerous situation.If the Tang army is unable to break through the opponent's line of defense for a long time, the morale will inevitably be frustrated. Once the Yan army launches a counterattack, the Tang army will be extremely disadvantaged.At this critical moment, Zhenxi Jiedu envoy Ma Lin said to the left and right: "The battle situation is critical!" Then he single-handedly charged into the enemy's line, rushed left and right among the crowd, pulled out the two command flags of the Yan army, and finally tore them apart. a gap.The main force of the Tang army behind him took advantage of the momentum to rush in, and the Yan army finally couldn't resist, and the formation immediately collapsed.

Afterwards, the Yan army fought and retreated, and the Tang army chased after it. The two sides fought fiercely several times in the Pomegranate Garden and Laojun Temple (both in the area of ​​Qinyang City, Henan Province today), but the morale of the Yan army was lost, while the Tang army fought more and more. Yong.When the Yan army retreated to Shangshu Valley (in today's Wuzhi County, Henan Province), they were unwilling to fight from top to bottom. All the ministries fled, trampled each other, and fell into the valley one after another.Tang Jun hacked and killed all the way, beheading more than 60,000 people and taking 20,000 prisoners.Seeing that the situation was over, Shi Chaoyi had no choice but to abandon Luoyang, and fled eastward with his family and hundreds of light cavalry.

The Tang army immediately recovered the three cities of Luoyang and Heyang. Pu Gu Huai'en ordered the Huihe army to garrison Heyang, and ordered his son Pu Guyuan, the soldier of the right wing, and Gao Fucheng, the soldier of Shuofang, to lead more than 10,000 soldiers on foot and ride eastward, and then conquered Zhengzhou.Shi Chaoyi fled all the way east, and when he arrived in Bianzhou (now Kaifeng, Henan), Zhang Xiancheng, his subordinate Chenliu Jiedu, closed the city gate and refused to take him in.Shi Chaoyi had no choice but to flee to Puzhou (now Juancheng County, Shandong).As soon as Shi Chaoyi left, Zhang Xiancheng opened the gate of the city with his back, and turned to the light.

Yan Jun finally ran away, and Luoyang, Tokyo, which had been lost to the rebels twice, finally returned to the embrace of the Li Tang Dynasty. However, the people of Luoyang at this moment would never have imagined in their dreams that instead of bringing them good news, the Tang Hui coalition forces brought them an unprecedented disaster! After the Tang Dynasty official army and Huihe friendly army marched into Luoyang mightily, they did four things in total-burning, killing, kidnapping, and plundering.After sweeping away Luoyang, the Tang-Hui coalition forces intensified again, looting Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, Ruzhou and other places in one go. (Volume 222: "Huihe entered Tokyo and carried out wanton killings. Tens of thousands of people died, and the fire lasted for ten days. Shuofang and Shence Army also regarded Tokyo, Zheng, Bian, and Ruzhou as bandits. It’s the end of the month, and the houses are all shattered, and the scholars and the people are all clothed.”)

The gentry and common people in the Central Plains couldn't believe it no matter what, these vicious robbers in front of them were the "official soldiers" they were looking forward to day and night! They were stunned, terrified, unable to recover for a long time. When they came to their senses, their houses were burned, their property was robbed, anyone who dared to resist was killed, and the clothes of the living were stripped.The so-called "scholars and civilians are clothed with paper" means that no matter whether they are officials, businessmen, scholars, men, women, old or young, they are all stripped naked, and they can only grab a few pieces of paper to cover up their shame.Of course, the soldiers will not grab this last veil, because paper means nothing to them.

The raging fire burned for dozens of days in Luoyang and other places, and the burning, killing and looting lasted for three full months.When the citizens of Datang who survived the catastrophe stood on the scorched ruins in thin "paper clothes" and huddled in the cold wind in the deep winter, they must all be thinking hard about a question-why did the rebels come here? Nothing happened, but all this happened when the officers and soldiers came? At the same time, the question that arises is: what is a subjugation?What is recovery?Who are the officers and soldiers?Who is the bandit?In fact, as early as when Daizong sent servant Gu Huai'en to negotiate with Dengli Khan, Luoyang and nearby counties had been sold to the Huihe people by the Li and Tang courts as bargaining chips in exchange of interests.

Now that the imperial court had reached such an agreement with the Huihe people, the officers and soldiers of the Tang army certainly had reason to regard Luoyang and other places as "thief territory".The so-called thieves' territory is the territory of thieves.Since it is the territory of thieves, of course the officers and soldiers can do whatever they want!In other words, when the Li-Tang court reached an agreement with the Huihe people, Tokyo and nearby counties were no longer occupied areas that the court urgently needed to recover, but the fat meat in the eyes of the Tang-Hui coalition forces, and they were loot that they urgently needed to grab !

Therefore, the people of the Central Plains really have nothing to complain about, this is their fate. On the chessboard of history and in the game of politics, the lives and properties of ordinary people have always been of little importance.Lao Tzu said it a long time ago - "The world is not benevolent, and treats everything as a straw dog; the sage (ruler) is not benevolent, and treats the people as a straw dog." In the history of China, in times of turmoil, the lives of ordinary people are often as cheap as worthless, and they can only bleed and groan under the swords and iron hooves of the heroes; even in peaceful times, ordinary people will be sacrificed by politicians at any time. Victims of the struggle, the so-called "well-being of the common people" and the so-called "interests of the common people" are often used by the rulers as political slogans and must not be taken seriously.That's why Zhang Yanghao, a native of the Yuan Dynasty, uttered such a sigh: "Prosperity, the people suffer; death, the people suffer!" For thousands of years, the fate of the Chinese people has been roughly the same. There is a saying that the army is defeated like a mountain.In November of the first year of Baoying, Shi Chaoyi had been running desperately northward, while Pugu Huai'en and his son had been chasing desperately behind him. Shi Chaoyi crossed the Yellow River from Puzhou and fled to Huazhou (now Huaxian County, Henan Province), and Pugu Huai'en attacked Xiazhou; Shi Chaoyi fled to Weizhou (now Jixian County, Henan Province), and Pugu Huai'en attacked Weizhou.The Suiyang Jiedu of the Yan Dynasty led Tian Chengsi to lead more than 40,000 people to stop the Tang army. Pu Guzhen defeated them and chased them all the way to Changle (now Nanle County, Henan).Shi Chaoyi moved to Weizhou (now Daming County, Hebei) to fight again, but was defeated by Puguan again. Seeing that the Tang army fought victoriously and won victories all the way, while Shi Chaoyi was exhausted and fled, the Jiedu envoys of Yan Dynasty realized in unison: Shi Chaoyi is about to die, and Yan Chao's fate is that the rabbit's tail can't grow any longer! What to do next, everyone has a tacit understanding. Just a few days later, Xue Song, the Jiedu envoy of Ye County of the Yan Dynasty, led his Xiang, Wei, Ming, and Xing prefectures to surrender to Li Baoyu, the Jiedu envoy of Zelu of the Tang Dynasty; Heng, Shen, Ding, and Yi prefectures surrendered to Xin Yunjing, the governor of Hedong in the Tang Dynasty. Li Baoyu and Xin Yunjing immediately entered Xue Song's and other people's camps, accepted their troops, and lifted their military power. However, within a few days, Pugu Huai'en ordered Xue Song and other officials to return to their posts and return to their respective positions.Li Baoyu and Xin Yunjing were very dissatisfied, and at the same time deeply suspicious—why do you, Pu Gu Huai'en, be so arbitrary and generous to the court?What is your intention of buying people's hearts so blatantly? Li and Xin immediately made a statement to the court, hoping that the court would secretly guard against Pugu Huai'en and take strict precautions.When Pu Gu Huai'en got the news, he followed up with Shangshu Daizong to defend himself. Pu Gu Huai'en undoubtedly made great contributions to the conquest of Shi Chaoyi this time. Daizong Li Yuzheng admired him very much, so he quickly sent envoys to comfort Pu Gu Huai'en, and officially issued an edict, saying: "Everyone who rebels in Tokyo, Henan, and Hebei Those who serve as false posts in the army will be pardoned, and the past will not be blamed." Seeing the imperial edict, although Li Baoyu and Xin Yunjing were very unconvinced, they had nothing to say. On November 24, Daizong promoted Pugu Huai'en as Deputy Marshal of Hebei, and also granted Zuo Pushe, Zhongshuling, Shanyu Daduhu and Zhenbei Daduhu. So far, Pugu Huai'en's status has far surpassed that of Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, and he has become the leading figure in the Tang military circle. At the end of this year, Shi Chaoyi fled to Beizhou (now Qinghe County, Hebei Province) and joined Xue Zhongyi and other Jiedu envoys.When Pu Guzhen pursued to Linqing (now Linxi County, Hebei), Shi Chaoyi led 30,000 people from Hengshui (now Hengshui County, Hebei) to turn back and fight back.Pu Guzhen set up an ambush to defeat the Yan army, and Shi Chaoyi fled again.At this time, the Huihe Corps' plunder in Luoyang came to an end, and they rushed to join the war again. The Tang army became more powerful and chased to the southeast of Xiabo (now Xiabo Town, Shenzhou, Hebei), where they defeated the Yan army again.Shi Chaoyi died and went to Mozhou (now Mozhou Town, Renqiu City, Hebei).Afterwards, the Tang army's five-way soldiers and horses joined forces to go to Bo, and then marched into Mozhou, besieging Shi Chaoyi group. In the first month of the second year of Baoying (763 A.D.), Shi Chaoyi went out of the city to fight many times, but was defeated by the Tang army.Tian Chengsi persuaded Shi Chaoyi to break through and go to Youzhou (Fan Yang Zhisuo) to recruit troops, and let him stick to Mozhou to wait for reinforcements.After much deliberation, Shi Chaoyi felt that he had no other choice, so he chose five thousand fine horsemen to break through from the north gate. Looking at Shi Chaoyi's back in a hurry, a sneer flashed across the corner of Tian Chengsi's mouth. A moment later, Tian Chengsi raised a flag on the top of the city. Tang Jun took Mozhou City in this way.At the same time, Shi Chaoyi's mother, wife and son were also captured. Afterwards, Pu Guzhen led another 30,000 horses to continue to pursue northward, and caught up with Shi Chaoyi in Guiyi (now northeast of Rongcheng County, Hebei).Shi Chaoyi turned back to fight, and was defeated again, so he had to flee again. He won't run away like this forever, because Youzhou is coming soon.Shi Chaoyi said to himself.Although a series of failures had almost shattered his confidence, Shi Chaoyi gritted his teeth and told himself when he thought of the familiar Youzhou City in front of him: Hold on, we must not just collapse like this!As long as the old nest in Youzhou is still there, the last hope is there! In front is Fanyang County (now Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province).Shi Chaoyi's heart suddenly became hot. Now that Fanyang County has arrived, can Youzhou City be far behind? However, at this moment, Shi Chaoyi didn't know that he would never reach Youzhou City. Because Fan Yangyin and Li Huaixian, who were personally appointed by him, had already submitted their surrender forms to Tang Ting a few days ago.Moreover, Li Huaixian also ordered Li Baozhong, the army envoy, to lead 3,000 troops into Fanyang County, with the purpose of blocking him here. When Shi Chaoyi, who was exhausted and hungry, led hundreds of remnant soldiers to Fanyang City, he saw a closed city gate as usual. A sudden wave of intense depression and fear seized him. These days, he has seen too many closed city gates—they were all closed for him, for him! Shi Chaoyi knew that his end was coming. The yellow dust from the chasing soldiers was already faintly visible.Shi Chaoyi sent people to question Li Baozhong angrily and painfully, and blamed the monarch and ministers for righteousness.Li Baozhong's reply was: "Heaven will not bless Yan, the Tang Dynasty will be revived! Now that we have returned to Tang, how can we do it again? I hope you decide to go there as soon as possible and seek self-sufficiency. Moreover, Tian Chengsi must have betrayed Otherwise, why would the officers and soldiers come here?" Li Baozhong's reply completely shattered Shi Chaoyi's remaining hope, especially the last sentence made him lose all hope. Luoyang was lost, Youzhou was surrendered, all the tribes rebelled, and his wife and children also fell into the hands of the Tang army in all likelihood... At this moment, Shi Chaoyi really understands what it means to be scattered when the tree falls. The desperate Shi Chaoyi finally made a request to Li Baozhong - I haven't eaten all day, please give me a meal. Li Baozhong was moved with compassion, and sent the rice to the city wall at the east gate. This was the last supper of Emperor Shi Chaoyi of the Yan Dynasty. After eating, all the Fanyang people who had suffered a stroke bid farewell to Shi Chaoyi one after another, walked into Fanyang City, and walked into their long-lost home.Shi Chaoyi was powerless to stop them from walking into their home, let alone stop the turbulent tears flowing wantonly on his face. After a long time, Shi Chaoyi wiped away the tears on his face, got on his horse again, and led the last hundred cavalrymen to Guangyang (now Liangxiang Town, southwest of Beijing).However, Guangyang City Gate is still closed.Shi Chaoyi pulled his horse's head and decided to go north to Khitan.However, when he reached a forest near Wenquanzha (now Qian'an County, Hebei Province), Shi Chaoyi could no longer move forward half a step. Because an army blocked his way. Shi Chaoyi saw a familiar face. That was Li Huaixian's face. Shi Chaoyi looked away from this disgusting face, and finally landed on a thick branch. The destination of life is sometimes so simple - a thick branch, plus a strong rope. And the Anshi Rebellion, which swept across most of the empire and profoundly affected the history of the Tang Dynasty, ended in such a simple sentence-"The dynasty is poor, hanged in the forest, Huaixian took his head and offered it." (Vol. two two two) On the 30th day of the first lunar month of the second year of Zong Baoying in the Tang Dynasty, a group of fast horses from Fan Yang entered Chang'an at full speed.The leading horse had a box tied to it.Shi Chaoyi in the box has disheveled hair and wide-open eyes...