Chapter 28 Tian Chengsi Rebellion

Tian Chengsi, originally a brave general under An Lushan's command, acted as a striker in every battle, and he was extremely brave.After the Anshi Rebellion was put down, Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian, Zhang Zhongzhi (later named Li Baochen) and others secretly took refuge in Pu Gu Huai'en, and transformed into the Hebei vassals of the Tang Dynasty.Tian Chengsi was appointed as the governor of Weibo (Weizhou, where the government is located, now Daming County, Hebei), under the jurisdiction of Wei, Bo, De, Cang, and Ying. Although Tian Chengsi surrendered to the imperial court in name, he was still a warlord who supported troops and cut land in his heart.Over the years, he "received imperial edicts from the outside, but shady plans to consolidate himself", "reinforced tax rates, repaired military armor" within his jurisdiction, and said that "the old and the weak work on farming, and the young and strong are subject to conscripts". Within a year, a standing army of 100,000 people was established.In addition, Tian Chengsi appointed all the state and county officials in Weibo territory by himself, and he has never paid a cent of taxes to the court for many years.

Regarding Tian Chengsi's deeds, the evaluation of the history books is only eight words-"Although it is said to be a vassal, there is no real festival". ("Old Tang Book·Tian Chengsi Biography") In the eighth year of Dali (773 A.D.), Tian Chengsi did another jaw-dropping thing—openly built an ancestral hall for An Lushan and Shi Siming, and respected them as the "Four Saints". Did Tian Chengsi lose his mind and risk the world's displeasure by doing such a rebellious thing? No, Tian Chengsi's brain is not flooded. The reason why he did this was to blackmail the court and let him take the post of prime minister. (The so-called "remote prime minister" is to add the title of "Tongping Zhangshi" to the original official title. Although this title has no real power, it is a symbol of identity, status and honor)

Tian Chengsi's request is very simple - if you want me to tear down this ancestral hall, you can, but you must exchange it with a prime minister's black yarn. After learning of this incident, Daizong was shocked and angry. However, apart from agreeing to Tian Chengsi's request, Daizong really had no other choice. Because, he has no reason to go to war with Tian Chengsi's 100,000 troops for the false title of "Tongping Zhangshi"! Daizong immediately issued a letter of appointment to Tian Chengsi, and then ordered him to destroy the rebellious "Four Sages Ancestral Hall".

In the ninth year of Dali (774 A.D.), in order to appease Tian Chengsi, Daizong took the initiative to marry his daughter Princess Yongye to Tian Hua, Tian Chengsi's son, hoping to consolidate his heart with the relationship between his children and his daughter's in-laws, and prevent If he does something too extreme again. However, it didn't take long before the last thing Daizong didn't want to see happened. In the first month of the tenth year of Dali (775 A.D.), Pei Zhiqing, the military envoy of Zhaoyi (Xiangzhou, where the government is located, today's Anyang City, Henan Province), suddenly launched a mutiny and expelled Xue E (the younger brother of Xue Song, the former Jiedu envoy) who stayed in Zhaoyi. , and then announced that he would belong to Tian Chengsi.Tian Chengsi immediately sent troops to attack Xiangzhou on the pretext of rescuing Pei Zhiqing.Xue E had no choice but to flee to Mingzhou (now southeast of Yongnian County, Hebei Province), petitioned Daizong to enter the court, and then fled back to Chang'an in one breath.

In order to prevent Tian Chengsi from annexing Zhaoyi, Daizong hurriedly issued an edict, appointing Zhaoyi general Xue Ze as the governor of Xiangzhou, Xue Xiong as the governor of Weizhou (now Weihui City, Henan Province), and Xue Jian as the governor of Mingzhou (all three were Xue. At the same time, he sent eunuch Sun Zhigu to Hebei to tell Tian Chengsi that he and the three new governors should "guard each other's borders" and not invade each other. However, Tian Chengsi refused to obey the edict, and immediately sent general Lu Ziqi to attack Mingzhou.Later, Tian Chengsi ordered general Yang Guangchao to attack Weizhou, and wrote a letter to persuade Xue Xiong to surrender.When Xue Xiong refused, Tian Chengsi sent assassins to assassinate Xue Xiong, and slaughtered Xue Xiong's family at the same time, then occupied Weizhou, and then sent troops to capture Cizhou (now Ci County, Hebei).

So far, the four prefectures of Xiang, Ming, Wei, and Ci have all fallen into the hands of Tian Chengsi, and most of Zhaoyi has been annexed by him.Tian Chengsi immediately appointed officials from the four states, and incorporated all Zhaoyi's elite troops into his Wei Bo army. In order to force the court to admit this fact, Tian Chengsi directed another scene of "returning soldiers to their hearts".He told the guards of Xiangzhou and Cizhou in advance, and asked them to select some soldiers to cooperate with him in acting. Then, Tian Chengsi invited the imperial envoy Sun Zhigu to inspect Xiangzhou and Cizhou together.

As soon as Tian Chengsi and Sun Zhigu arrived, the well-prepared Wei Bo soldiers (pretending to be Zhaoyi soldiers) "cut their ears and face" one after another, urging the court to appoint Tian Chengsi as their Jiedu envoy.The so-called cutting ears and face means to cut off one's ears or cut one's own face with a knife; when ancient ethnic minorities tried to express a certain strong will and desire, they often used this extreme behavior.Although Tian Chengsi himself is not a barbarian, he has many barbarian soldiers under his command, so he has the conditions to direct this scene.However, Emperor Daizong Li Yu was not an idiot, of course he would not be fooled by Tian Chengsi so easily.More importantly, Tian Chengsi's behavior of "blatantly resisting the edict and annexing Zhaoyi" is really intolerable.If we continue to take a tolerant and conniving attitude towards this kind of behavior and let it do whatever it wants, what will be the face of the Li and Tang courts?Who will obey the edict of the emperor in the future?

Therefore, Daizong decided to send troops to attack Tian Chengsi. Of course, Daizong was cautious by nature, always cautious in doing things, and never fought uncertain battles.The reason why he dared to fight Tian Chengsi this time was because the two feudal towns adjacent to Wei Bo had proactively presented to the court, requesting to crusade against Tian Chengsi, which greatly enhanced Daizong's confidence. These two volunteer towns, one is Li Baochen, the Jiedu envoy of Chengde (where the government is located in Hengzhou, now Zhengding County, Hebei), and the other is Li Baochen, the Jiedu envoy of Ziqing (also known as Pinglu, where the government is located in Qingzhou, now Qingzhou City, Shandong). Righteousness.In fact, Daizong also knew that the reason why these two people took the initiative to invite Ying was not because they were loyal to the court and wanted to make contributions to the country, but because they had a problem with Tian Chengsi and wanted to take the opportunity to clean him up.

In fact, the relationship between Li Baochen and Tian Chengsi was originally very good, not only colleagues, but also in-laws - Li Baochen's younger brother Li Baozheng married Tian Chengsi's daughter.Once, when Li Bao was visiting Weizhou, he played polo with Tian Chengsi's son Tian Wei. While galloping, he accidentally knocked Tian Wei off his horse, causing Tian Wei to be seriously injured and died soon after.Tian Chengsi was furious, and immediately arrested Li Baozheng, and then wrote a letter to discuss with Li Baochen. What can Li Baochen say?Although this incident was purely accidental, after all his precious son died, you can no longer defend your younger brother, right?Li Baochen had no choice but to write back to apologize to Tian Chengsi, saying that he was not strict in discipline, and asked Tian Chengsi not to have any worries, and he would punish him as he wanted, without any second thoughts.

Tian Chengsi also simply ordered Li Baozheng to be whipped to death as soon as he saw the reply. Li Baochen was stunned when he heard the news. He originally thought that Li Baozheng was Tian Chengsi's son-in-law no matter what, even though he made a mistake and caused a catastrophe, it was purely unintentional, even if he had to be punished, he would never die!That's why he dared to say beautiful words to Tian Chengsi, such as punishment if he should be punished.But he never expected that Tian Chengsi would be so ruthless that he would kill Li Baozheng in one fell swoop! After this incident, Li Baochen turned against Tian Chengsi.

As for Li Zhengji, the governor of Ziqing, he has always been at odds with Tian Chengsi.What grievances and grievances there are between them is unknown to outsiders, but what is certain is that Tian Chengsi always looks down on Li Zhengji because of his strength.Therefore, Li Zhengji had long wanted to show Tian Chengsi some color.This time Tian Chengsi blatantly disobeyed the edict, Li Zhengji naturally would not miss this opportunity to fix him. For Emperor Daizong Li Yu, the motives of Li Baochen and Li Zhengji did not matter at all.The important thing is that they have soldiers in their hands, and they want to deal with Tian Chengsi wholeheartedly, that's enough. Yes, that's enough! In April of the tenth year of Dali, Emperor Daizong issued an edict to demote Tian Chengsi to the governor of Yongzhou, and at the same time ordered the Nine Dao Festivals of Hedong, Chengde, Youzhou, Ziqing, Huaixi, Yongping, Biansong, Heyang, and Zelu. Dushi, marching into Weibo from the north and south at the same time, as long as Tian Chengsi refuses to repent and continues to disobey orders, he will be beaten severely until he pleads guilty and subdue the law! The conquest of Tian Chengsi this time was the largest military action taken by Emperor Daizong Li Yu against the rebel towns since he ascended the throne. Daizong believed that as long as he won this battle, he could use actions to educate those feudal towns who were lawless and despised the imperial court, and act as a deterrent and warning to all arrogant soldiers and generals in the world, thus establishing the authority of the imperial court. Daizong Li Yu is full of expectations for this wonderful prospect... At that time, Zhu Tao (the younger brother of the former Jiedu envoy Zhu Xi) who stayed in Youzhou was wholeheartedly expecting the court to make him a full-time official, so he behaved the most obediently. As soon as he received the imperial edict, he immediately joined forces with Li Baochen of Chengde and Xue Jian of Hedong. The soldiers attacked Weibo from the north; Li Zhengji of Ziqing joined forces with Huaixi, Heyang and other towns to attack from the south. At the beginning of May, Tian Chengsi's general Huo Rongguo, who was guarding Cizhou, saw the soldiers gathered together, and hurriedly raised the city to surrender to the court. On May 15th, Li Zhengji captured Dezhou (now Shandong Ling County); on the same day, Huaixi Jiedu envoy Li Zhongchen led an onslaught of 40,000 troops on Weizhou. Facing the menacing imperial army, Tian Chengsi couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive, but he was still ready to fight to the end.Therefore, while Tian Chengsi dispatched troops to resist the enemy in the south, he ordered Zhaoyi's general Pei Zhiqing to lead his troops to attack Jizhou (now Jizhou City, Hebei Province) under the jurisdiction of Chengde, in an attempt to force Li Baochen in the north to attack by means of "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao". withdraw troops. However, Tian Chengsi never expected that Pei Zhiqing, who had just defected to his command, played a black humor game with him at this juncture, and actually led his troops to join Li Zhengji. Tian Chengsi was so angry that he almost vomited blood. You kid is such a fucking idiot!Betraying one for a while, and taking refuge in another for a while, it's outrageous!I made a fuss for you, but you left with a slap on your ass. How can you be so shameless? Tian Chengsi greeted all eighteen generations of Pei Zhiqing's ancestors in his heart, but cursing could not solve the problem, and the imperial court's northern and southern armies were still storming his territory.Tian Chengsi had no choice but to personally lead troops to attack Jizhou according to the original plan. As expected by Tian Chengsi, Li Baochen led his troops back to aid.It's a pity that Tian Chengsi didn't get any benefit.Because Li Baochen's troops are so capable of fighting, especially the cavalry led by his heroic general Zhang Xiaozhong, they are even more brave, with one as ten.Tian Chengsi suffered several defeats in a row, and finally had to burn all his belongings, and fled back to Weizhou in despair. In August, all the troops of the imperial court were advancing step by step, while the generals of Wei Bo were in a state of depression.Tian Chengsi realized helplessly that if he continued to fight like this, he would definitely be doomed!So he hurriedly sent envoys to the court and made a statement to Daizong, requesting to bind himself to Chang'an to apologize. Daizong was very excited, so he ordered all the armies to stop attacking temporarily, waiting for Tian Chengsi to enter the court. However, Daizong was too happy. This is just Tian Chengsi's plan to delay the attack. Tian Chengsi knew that he was outnumbered and absolutely could not fight head-on with the Nine Towns coalition forces.If you want to escape this catastrophe, you can only patiently find the flaws of the coalition forces, and then design to disintegrate them and defeat them one by one! In Tian Chengsi's view, the Nine Towns coalition forces are by no means monolithic, and it is not difficult to drive them apart.Therefore, Tian Chengsi believes that, in this contest of one against nine and disparity in strength, although he is temporarily at a disadvantage, he may not be able to have the last laugh...