Chapter 40 Guilty Edict: A Revolution in the Deep of the Soul

Although Li Huaiguang left, he did not go to conquer Chang'an. When he came to Xianyang, he stood still, and he remained unmoved for nearly a month.During this period, Li Huaiguang only did one thing: frequently reported to the table, and tirelessly denounced Lu, Zhao, and Bai. The matter is obvious, Li Huaiguang wants to make a deal with the emperor - if he wants me to attack Zhu Xi, I will kill these three people first; if I don't kill these three people, I will never send troops! Faced with Li Huaiguang's threat, Dezong was very angry, but there was nothing he could do. Because Li Huaiguang holds 50,000 Shuofang troops in his hands.

The mere 5,000 rebels in Jingyuan turned the imperial capital Chang'an upside down, not to mention the 50,000 Shuofang army! Since the time of Xuanzong, Shuofang Army has been one of the most elite troops in the empire. From the "Anshi Rebellion" until today, Shuofang Army has always been the core force of Li Tang's court to put down the rebellion.Today, the world has become a mess. If the Shuofang army keeps watching from the sidelines, or simply rebels, what will Dezong use to counter the rebellion?Isn't this the end of Li Tang Jiangshan's 160 years of history? At the same time that Dezong was entangled and in a dilemma, the public opinion in the court became more and more violent, and all civil and military officials pointed their finger at Lu Qi and others.

Dezong was completely lost. He decided to make this deal with Li Huaiguang. On December 19th of the fourth year of Jianzhong, Emperor Dezong reluctantly issued an edict, demoting Prime Minister Lu Qi to Xinzhou (now Xinxing County, Guangdong) Sima, Shence Army envoy Bai Zhizhen to Enzhou (now Enping City, Guangdong) ) Sima, Duzhi envoy Zhao Zan was demoted to Bozhou (now Zunyi City, Guizhou) Sima. As soon as Lu Qi left, Dezong Li Shi's IQ immediately improved significantly.Under the active planning of Hanlin scholar Lu Zhi and others, Dezong finally had a more comprehensive consideration of the current general trend of the whole world.On this basis, the court of Emperor Dezong formulated a practical strategy for the rebellious feudal vassals.

This is a two-handed strategy of "two-pronged approach, divide and conquer": for Zhu Xi, Zhu Tao, Li Xilie and others, there is only one word - fight; for Tian Yue, Wang Wujun and Li Na, another word - pull. Dezong knew that since Zhu Xi became emperor, Zhu Tao had become more and more arrogant and defiant, so Tian, ​​Wang, Li and the Zhu brothers seemed to be at odds with each other, and they would also worry that if the Zhu Xi brothers really took over If they conquered the world, they must be the ones who will be destroyed next.There is such a fatal gap in the feudal lords of Hebei, and there is no reason why the Li and Tang courts should not take advantage of it.

At the end of the fourth year of Jianzhong, Dezong sent an envoy to secretly promise Tian, ​​Wang, and Li that if they did anything else, all crimes would be pardoned and high-ranking officials and honors would be bestowed. Although Dezong's alienation plan had some effect, Tian, ​​Wang, and Li only secretly agreed to surrender, and on the surface they still called Zhu Tao brothers and brothers, and they did not cancel the title of king. Obviously, these three people are sitting on the fence.Because in terms of the current chaotic situation, it is still difficult for them to determine which side to bet on, so riding the wall is the most beneficial and safest for them.

Of course Zhu Tao from Youzhou didn't know that the buddies next door were flirting with the imperial court. Now he only wanted to move his troops south, echoing his third brother Zhu Xi, marching into the Central Plains from the east and west, and then in the east. Join forces in Luoyang. Once they occupy the two capitals, the Zhu brothers will have ample capital to compete in the world and command the Quartet.Every time he thinks of this exciting and beautiful vision, Zhu Tao wakes up laughing until midnight. Of course, with his strength alone, he still doesn't have the confidence to go south to sweep the Central Plains, so Zhu Tao needs help.

Zhu Tao decided to find two helpers: one was from Huihe, and the other was Wei Bo's Tian Yue. The reason why the Huihe people were recruited was firstly because they fought well, and secondly because they were greedy for money and sex. As long as they had the work of looting houses and houses and promised them gold and silk beauties, they would definitely come and fight when they came. And the reason why he was looking for Tian Yue was because Tian Yue owed him a huge favor. When Tian Yue was besieged by the imperial army in Weizhou, if Zhu Tao and Wang Wujun hadn't rescued him, Tian Yue would have died a long time ago, so he has no reason not to return the favor.

At the end of December of this year, Zhu Tao's envoy came to Weizhou and sent a letter to Tian Yue, saying: "Back then when Balang (Tian Yue ranked eighth) was in danger, I and Zhao Wang (Wang Wujun) I risked my life to save you, and finally helped you out of the siege. You should not have forgotten this, right? Now my third brother is in Guanzhong to uphold the destiny. I plan to help him with the Huihe people. I hope that Balang will prepare soldiers and horses and attack together with me. Daliang (same as Bianzhou, now Kaifeng, Henan)." Tian Yue hesitated greatly after seeing the letter.If you agree to Zhu Tao, you will obviously be used as a gun by him, or even as cannon fodder for him, which is not worth it;

Tian Yue had no choice but to call his confidantes Hu Ling, Xu Shize and others to discuss, and asked them what they thought about this and how to deal with it.Xu Shi immediately conducted a detailed analysis of Zhu Tao. He said: "In the beginning, Zhu Tao was just a small general under the command of Li Huaixian, the Jiedu envoy of Youzhou. He killed Li Huaixian with his third brother Zhu Xi and general Zhu Xicai, and then supported Zhu Xicai; Zhu Xicai favored Zhu brothers from then on. Yes, but not long after, Zhu Tao and his colleague Li Ziyi murdered Zhu Xicai and supported Zhu Xi; later, Zhu Tao urged Zhu Xi to enter the court as a hostage, and then established himself as the queen, and seized Zhu Xi's military power; Later, in order to consolidate his power, Zhu Tao killed Li Zi Ai, who was his accomplice at the beginning, and then successively killed more than 20 people, all of whom had worked for him; now, Zhu Tao said in Guanzhong Emperor, Zhu Tao will immediately pull the tiger skin as a banner, and once he gains power in the future, he will definitely replace Zhu Xi. A person like Zhu Tao who is greedy for profit and cunning and changeable is not recognized by his brothers, let alone his allies?"

In the end, Xu Shi put forward his countermeasures: "For now, we might as well agree to Zhu Tao on the surface, but we must strengthen our guard in secret. When he comes to ask for soldiers and horses, just find a reason to prevaricate and give him a few thousand dollars." The old and the weak deal with the matter. In this way, the king can not only fulfill the reputation of rewarding virtue, but also not have to be coerced by others, which can be described as a two-way strategy." When Hu Ling and others heard the words, they all agreed.Tian Yue was also secretly happy, but for the sake of prudence, he still didn't make a clear statement.

Later, when Wang Wujun of Hengji heard that Zhu Tao was wooing Tian Yue, fearing that he would be caught in the middle (youzhou is in the north of Hengji, and Weibo is in the south), he hurriedly sent someone to vaccinate Tian Yue, saying: "Before Zhu Xi proclaimed himself emperor, Zhu Tao and I were kings side by side, and he already looked down on us. If you help him to pacify the Central Plains and let him and Zhu Xi become one, I will become their prisoner! Therefore, Hachiro must not go south with him. If he forces you to send troops, you just shut the city and refuse to defend. I will definitely find his flaws and join hands with Zhaoyi's Li Baozhen to kill him. By then we will still be the festival of the Tang Dynasty Dushi, there's no point in suffering with a traitor like him!" After receiving Wang Wujun's letter, Tian Yue knew it well, and immediately wrote back a letter to Zhu Tao, promising to send troops with him. Zhu Tao was overjoyed. On December 24th, Zhu Tao personally led a total of 50,000 Youzhou cavalry, more than 10,000 regiment trainers, and 3,000 Huihe iron cavalry. The world is dreaming. However, this is destined to be just Zhu Tao's wishful thinking. Because, the buddies next door are now guarding him as a thief, and will not let his ambition succeed; and the third brother Zhu Xi, who he has placed high hopes on, is already in danger and dying soon. In these days at the end of the fourth year of Jianzhong, the most proud person among the rebellious feudal clans was Li Xilie. Li Mian, the envoy appointed by the imperial court to recruit Huaixi, was no match for Li Xilie at all.Li Mian was besieged by Li Xilie in Bianzhou (now Kaifeng City, Henan Province) for several months, and he could not wait for reinforcements from Guanzhong. Finally, he had to abandon Bianzhou, led more than 10,000 troops to break through, and retreated to Songzhou (now Shangqiu City, Henan Province) city). Li Xilie occupied Bianzhou on December 27, and then sent troops to the north, west, and east at the same time. ——Beilu, just as the rebel army approached the city of Huazhou (now Huaxian County, Henan Province), Li Cheng, the governor, surrendered the city. ——West Road, the rebel army besieged Zhengzhou and took control of the area east of Wulao (now west of Xingyang City, Henan Province) in one fell swoop. ——East Road, Li Xilie led an army to capture Xiangyi (now Sui County, Henan Province), and the defender Gaoyi City threw himself into the river after breaking through; Li Xilie took advantage of the victory to attack Ningling (now Ningling County, Henan Province), and the Jiang and Huai Rivers were shaken; In order to protect himself, Huainan Jiedu envoy Chen Shaoyou quickly sent someone to meet Li Xilie, saying that he had ordered Haozhou (now northeast of Fengyang County, Anhui Province), Shouzhou (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province), and Shuzhou (now Qianshan County, Anhui Province) to ), Luzhou (now Hefei City, Anhui) disarmed, gave up resistance, and obeyed Li Xilie's command. In the icy cold winter of the fourth year of Jianzhong, the flames of war ignited by the powerful feudal clan Li Xilie were spreading wantonly in the hinterland of the empire, and had already reached the Jianghuai region, the wealth center of the empire. At the same time, Li Shi, Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, was sitting in Fengtian's humble Palace of the Son of Heaven, and saw another flame burning deep in his soul. It was a flame where the old me was at war with the new me. Lu Zhi, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, told him: If he wants to rebirth this battered empire like a phoenix nirvana in the raging flames of war, he must take the most difficult step in his career as an emperor. Touching people's hearts" and publicly confessing all their mistakes to the people of the world.In short, it's just four words - order to sin against yourself! Emperor Dezong Li Shi didn't know whether "an imperial edict to sin against himself" could revive the empire, he only knew that he had no choice. He only knows that if he doesn't do this, it will be difficult to unite the scattered hearts, it will be difficult to recover the fallen land, it will be difficult to restore the lost dignity, and it will be difficult to rebuild the broken homeland.And he himself will never be able to get out of the huge nightmare composed of all these... On the first day of the first lunar month in the first year of Xingyuan (784 A.D.), the subjects of the Tang Empire heard a piece of news that surprised them: Emperor Li Shi promulgated a "Criminal Edict". The emperor sins against himself? This is a new thing. On the day when the edict was released publicly, people from all over the world rushed to tell each other, wanting to see it quickly. This is a relatively famous imperial edict in Chinese history, its words are sad and gloomy, and its affection is sincere and touching.What is particularly valuable is that in the past, when faced with major catastrophes, emperors had no choice but to issue imperial edicts out of awe of the "scourge of heaven".But Li Shi's edict is quite different.He immediately pointed the finger of criticism at himself, and analyzed his faults, shortcomings, and faults one by one with a spirit of "knowing shame and being brave".This is not only a revolution in the soul, but also a naked run in front of the world.Although this imperial edict was drafted by Lu Zhi, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, it must be announced after Li Shi looked over and nodded.Therefore, Li Shi's sincerity and courage in this matter should be beyond doubt.This article is excerpted below for the readers: It is said that after the release of this extraordinary "Edict of Guilt", "the hearts of the people in all directions were joyful" and "all the soldiers wept with emotion". (Volume 229) This imperial edict was drafted by Lu Zhi, a master of articles, and his literary talent goes without saying.However, Lu Zhi is by no means just a pedantic literati.Although this imperial edict moved people with its sincere emotions, this is by no means the point. The point is - it pays attention to the interests of all parties. In Lu Zhi's original words: "Let everyone get what they want, so there is no one who doesn't follow!" When a regime wants to tame people's hearts, sensational slogans are of little use. Only when people truly pay attention to the interests of the people and put this concern into practice can the people sincerely support the regime. Specific to Dezong's edict, the thing that can make people's eyes shine, and the key to making them support Li Tang again, is obviously the abolition of interim taxes, removal of money, and various miscellaneous taxes.If not, it is impossible for ordinary people to be moved by cheap "true feelings". As for the rebellious vassals, Dezong's court expressed the greatest sincerity through this edict: as long as they do not proclaim themselves emperor and do not break through Dezong Li Shi's final bottom line, all rebels can forget the past.So we see that, except for Zhu Xi, all the rebellious vassals and all their followers were pardoned.In order to establish the broadest united front, the imperial court even helped Zhu Tao find a reason, saying that he "will not conspire if he is far away", and give him a chance to reform as long as he is willing. Such an olive branch thrown out by the Li Tang court undoubtedly eliminated the original common interests among the rebels to the greatest extent and disintegrated the basis for their alliance.Regardless of whether the rebellious vassals would submit to the central government because of this, anyway, the Li and Tang courts have shown the greatest sincerity they can. Therefore, rather than saying that this edict is Dezong Li Shi's naked self-confession of true feelings, it is better to say that it is a set of strategic concepts issued by the Li Tang government in a timely manner in the face of the increasingly complicated situation of fighting chaos. With this unexpected edict, the rebel vassals responded quickly. Of course, the reactions of the parties have been very different. The first is Zhu Xi.Being locked as the only target, Zhu Xi was furious and determined to retaliate.But he has already proclaimed himself emperor, what more powerful counterattack could there be than proclaiming himself emperor?After thinking about it, Zhu Yi finally racked his brains to change the country name from "Qin" to "Han", calling himself Emperor Hanyuan.This is of course not a more powerful counterattack than proclaiming the emperor, but in history, Qin's country was short, Han's country was long, and Zhu Xi changed the country's name to Han, which at least showed his determination to fight Li Tang to the end .Then Wang Wujun, Tian Yue and Li Na responded.They had already secretly communicated with the imperial court, but now they saw the imperial court's determination to establish a united front, so they canceled the title of king and made an apology.The last one to react was Li Xiyeol. Although he was included in the list of pardons by the court, Li Xiyeol did not appreciate it.Because among the rebellious vassals at this moment, he has the strongest military strength, the largest territory, and the most financial resources, and he has just won a series of victories, so the situation is very good.Under such circumstances, how could he be willing to bow his head to Li Tang again.Of course he didn't. Therefore, a few days after Emperor Dezong issued the "Edict of Guilt", Li Xilie proclaimed himself emperor in Bianzhou.He named the country "Great Chu", changed Yuan Wucheng at the same time, and set up civil and military officials. At the beginning of the new year, although Hengji, Wei Bo, and Ziqing had surrendered, such a result did not satisfy Dezong Li Shi. Because there are still two other regimes that proclaim themselves emperors standing on the land of the Tang Empire. Li Shi was helpless. It’s time to repent, to repent, to blame yourself, the revolution in the depths of the soul is over, and the embarrassing "naked running" has also passed... But Emperor Dezong Li Shi still doesn’t know whether his empire can survive. Get new life in the new year.