Chapter 41 See the poor dagger in the picture: Li Huaiguang's rebellion

The only person who did not respond to Dezong's "Zui Ji Zhao" was Zhu Tao. Because he is still dreaming of the dream of competing in the Central Plains. When Zhu Tao marched into the border of Hengji with a mighty army, Wang Wujun was very courteous, killing cattle and sheep for several days, and throwing banquets to reward him; after Zhu Tao's army entered Weibo, Tian Yue was more respectful than Wang Wujun. The supply was plentiful along the way, and envoys were sent frequently, and a very grand welcome ceremony was held in every place Zhu Tao passed. Zhu Tao is very satisfied.

He is no ordinary person now, he is the emperor's younger brother of the dignified "Emperor Hanyuan"!It's no wonder that these grass-headed kings try their best to flatter him.Zhu Tao believed that after he pacified the Central Plains, these gangster grandsons would definitely scramble to call him Lord! However, it turned out that this was just Zhu Tao's imagination. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Zhu Tao's army arrived in Yongji (now northeast of Guantao County, Hebei Province), and sent envoys to meet with Tian Yue in Guantao. As soon as Tian Yue saw the envoy, he immediately said with a sad face: "I wanted to go south with my fifth brother (Zhu Tao ranked fifth), but I didn't expect that when the army was about to leave yesterday, the soldiers suddenly surrounded me and warned : "Over the past year, we have fought many times, but we have lost more than we won, and our food and supplies have been exhausted. Now that the soldiers are short of food and clothing, how can we still have the strength to go on an expedition? Your Majesty, you are sitting in Weizhou in person. I am worried that there will be changes. If you go south, you will leave in the morning, and there will be chaos in the evening.' These words are said by the soldiers, not mine. Personally, I have no second thoughts about the fifth brother, just take the soldiers We can't help it. But please rest assured, Fifth Brother, I have ordered General Meng You to lead 5,000 cavalry to go south with me, and I will do my best for Fifth Brother!"

The envoy went back and truthfully conveyed Tian Yue's words.When Zhu Tao heard this, he jumped into a rage and cursed: "Tian Yue, a traitor! When you were trapped in a tight siege and your life was hanging by a thread, I was the one who went to rescue you desperately. Fortunately, I saved your life. You said you would give me Beizhou , I did not accept it; you wanted to support me as the emperor, and I resolutely refused. I never thought that you would be ungrateful and cause my army to come from afar, but you made up a set of excuses to refuse to send troops. What is your intention?"

In fact, it is no wonder that Zhu Tao was so furious, because Tian Yue's refusal to send troops not only caused Zhu Tao's southern expedition to shrink sharply, but the most terrible thing was that his doing so was equivalent to completely destroying Zhu Tao's southern expedition plan. It's over! Why do you say that? Because, for Zhu Tao, after this change, he didn't dare to go south at all.Because he was worried: since Tian Yue was obedient to the evil, Wang Wujun probably had no good intentions. If he insisted on going south, the two of them would join hands to copy his retreat, and even take away his old nest Youzhou, what would Zhu Tao do?Can he take the risk?

Certainly not. Therefore, Zhu Tao can only go back home obediently now.The so-called competition in the Central Plains and the so-called joining forces in Luoyang have now become a dream! Of course, Zhu Tao would not suffer from being dumb.Even if he had to go back home, he would never return empty-handed.On the same day, Zhu Tao sent troops to capture Zongcheng (now east of Wei County, Hebei), Jingcheng (now north of Wei County), and Guanshi (now Guan County, Shandong) under Wei Bo's jurisdiction. In the middle of the first lunar month, Zhu Tao encircled Beizhou (now Qinghe County, Hebei) on his way back to the north, and then captured Wucheng (now Wucheng County, Shandong).Finally, Zhu Tao ordered the general Ma Shi to lead five thousand cavalry to Guan's to deter Weizhou where Tian Yue was located.After doing all this, Zhu Tao led his troops back to the north with unsatisfactory intentions.

In this way, Zhu Tao and Tian Yue completely turned their faces. For the Li Tang court, this is of course a good thing.As long as the towns in Hebei form a situation of mutual containment, their strengths will cancel each other out. In this way, the court of Dezong can concentrate on dealing with Zhu Xi in Guanzhong. However, Dezong Li Shi never expected that the enemy he had to deal with now was not only Zhu Xi, but also Li Huaiguang. As a person who is desperate for the country and his personal future, since the moment Li Huaiguang led his troops to leave Fengtian, an attempt to rebel has already been born in his heart.Although Dezong finally accepted his advice and exiled Lu Qi and others, this was not enough to make Li Huaiguang change his mind.

Because he was afraid that Emperor Dezong would settle accounts after the fall. He knew that the reason why Dezong made concessions was because Chang'an was still in Zhu Xi's hands, and Dezong still needed him now.Once Chang'an is restored, Li Huaiguang will be of little use.At that time, Lu Qi and others are likely to return to the court swaggeringly and return to their original posts, while Li Huaiguang will most likely be cooked by Dezong! With such doubts and fears, Li Huaiguang naturally would not work for Li Tang court again. Now he only wants to preserve his strength, and before officially raising the flag, he also wants to wait for an opportunity to strengthen his strength.

How to increase strength? It's simple: annex friendly troops. At that time, there were three troops stationed on the outskirts of Chang'an with Li Huaiguang. Its generals are: Li Sheng, the military envoy of Shence Duzhi, Li Jianhui, the envoy of Fufang Jiedu, and Yang Huiyuan, the envoy of Shence Xingying. Among the three, Li Sheng has the highest military ability.In Li Huaiguang's view, this person poses the greatest potential threat to him. Li Huaiguang would never dare to act rashly unless Li Sheng was dealt with. At the beginning of the first month of the first year of Xingyuan, Emperor Dezong frequently sent envoys to urge Li Huaiguang to send troops. Li Huaiguang took advantage of the situation and put forward conditions, requesting to join forces with Li Sheng and other ministries.Dezong agreed without thinking too much.Later, Li Sheng and other troops were ordered to join forces with Li Huaiguang at Chen Tao, west of Xianyang, and the control of these three troops fell into Li Huaiguang's hands.

Dezong thought that in this way, Li Huaiguang would definitely be able to send troops.Unexpectedly, after he took over the military power, he stayed in Xianyang for more than a month, and he couldn't stay there.Dezong sent eunuchs to urge him repeatedly, but Li Huaiguang always prevaricated with the excuse of "soldier fatigue". Of course Dezong didn't know that Li Huaiguang had secretly connected with Zhu Shi in the past month or so and concluded a non-aggression treaty.During this period, Li Sheng and other generals also urged Li Huaiguang to go to war almost every day, but he also vetoed it for various reasons.Li Sheng finally understood - Li Huaiguang probably wanted to rebel.

Thinking of this, Li Sheng broke out in a cold sweat.Once Li Huaiguang made a move, wouldn't he, Li Jianhui and others become fish on Li Huaiguang's chopping board? Li Sheng immediately went to play Dezong, requesting to separate troops from Li Huaiguang and return to Dongwei Bridge, where he was originally stationed.But Dezong still pinned his hope of regaining Chang'an on Li Huaiguang, so he withheld Li Sheng's memorial and ignored his request at all, so as not to offend Li Huaiguang again. However, Dezong's step-by-step retreat can only be exchanged for Li Huaiguang's progress.

A few days later, Li Huaiguang made another condition.He played Dezong and said: "The food and rewards of all armies are very meager, but the treatment of the Shence Army is the most generous. How can the soldiers be driven to fight when they are so generous?" Li Huaiguang's meaning is obvious - if you want me to go to war, you must give me a salary increase. It should be said that the situation reported by Li Huaiguang is true. The Shence Army is the Central Forbidden Army, and its treatment has always been much higher than that of the troops in Zhuzhen.To put it bluntly, compared with the Shence Army, the troops in other places are like stepmothers.If Li Huaiguang raised this condition in normal times, Dezong might still agree, but the problem is that at this juncture, the imperial court itself is still shy and stretched, so what can I use to raise the wages of Li Huaiguang's troops? Dezong was depressed.If he couldn't get the real money, Li Huaiguang would immediately have an excuse to act coquettishly, which might provoke the soldiers to mutiny and lead to a repeat of the tragedy of the Jingshi Incident. The consequences would be disastrous.However, it is so difficult for the imperial court now, where can I get real money for him? In desperation, Dezong had no choice but to send Lu Zhi, hoping that he would do Li Huaiguang's ideological and political work. Lu Zhi has nothing to do with this kind of thing. It is basically nonsense to want people like Li Huaiguang to carry forward their spirit of dedication through ideological and political work.The only way Lu Zhi could think of was not to raise Li Huaiguang's salary, but to get Li Sheng to offer to lower his salary. Only in this way can a bowl of water be leveled and Li Huaiguang's mouth can be blocked. When he came to Li Huaiguang's army, Lu Zhi specially called Li Sheng to discuss with him in Li Huaiguang's big tent.As soon as Li Huaiguang saw Lu Zhi, he complained: "The soldiers fought the same battle, but received completely different rewards, how can we make them work together?" Lu Zhi was speechless, so he had to wink at Li Sheng frequently. Li Huaiguang was full of complacency, and looked at Li Sheng with a provocative look, to see how he would respond. This time, he had pushed Li Sheng into a dead end - as long as Li Sheng asked to cut benefits, he would immediately lose the support of his troops, and without Li Huaiguang's action, the Shence Army soldiers would eat him alive. Under Li Huaiguang's gaze, Li Sheng said calmly: "Li Gong, you are the marshal and have the power to command the three armies; I am just the general of an army, and of course I must obey your command in everything. Like cutting welfare Don’t you just say something about this kind of thing? I will resolutely obey Mr. Li’s ruling.” Smart, really smart!Lu Zhi couldn't help applauding secretly in his heart.He stole a glance at Li Huaiguang, and saw that his face turned red and turned white, but he couldn't speak a word. Of course Li Huaiguang couldn't say that. He makes a fuss about the issue of remuneration, the purpose is to force the Shence army to split up and down, and the soldiers to turn against each other, it is best to stir up trouble, so that he can take advantage of the opportunity.But if he personally issued this order, it would be tantamount to directing the anger of Shence soldiers to himself. Of course, Li Huaiguang would not do such a stupid thing.Because no one is willing to say this, the salary increase matter will be over. In the final analysis, Li Huaiguang is just a rough man, and his IQ is not enough to play tricks on Li Sheng. The reason why Li Sheng later became one of the three famous generals in Dezong's first dynasty was also very simple-he was not only better at fighting than others, but also better at brains than others. Lu Zhi stayed in Li Huaiguang's barracks for a few days and was keenly aware of Li Huaiguang's changes.After returning to Fengtian, he immediately proposed to Emperor Dezong to let Li Sheng withdraw to the Dongwei Bridge as soon as possible, otherwise there would be trouble sooner or later.After listening to his analysis, Dezong felt that it made sense, so he had to approve Li Sheng's withdrawal. Li Sheng escaped a catastrophe.Once he withdrew, the forces of Li Jianhui and Yang Huiyuan became weaker, and Lu Zhi persuaded Emperor Dezong to order Li and Yang to also withdraw from Chen Tao to prevent being annexed by Li Huaiguang.However, this proposal was vetoed by Emperor Dezong. Dezong said: "Your thoughts are indeed thorough, but once Li Sheng leaves, Li Huaiguang may already hold a grudge. If Li and Yang are allowed to leave again, I am afraid that Li Huaiguang will have another opinion, and it will be difficult to mediate. Let's talk about it later." .” In late February of this year, Li Huaiguang conspired frequently with Zhu Xi, and his wolfish ambitions were clearly revealed.Li Sheng saw it, and immediately sent an alarm to Dezong: "Li Huaiguang has made it clear, no matter what day changes, we must take precautions early. I suggest that the road to Shuzhong and Hanzhong must not be blocked. In the memorandum, Li Sheng suggested that troops should be stationed in Yangzhou (now Yangxian, Shaanxi), Lizhou (now Guangyuan City, Sichuan), Jianzhou (now Jiange County, Sichuan) and other important throats. Shengjia can enter Sichuan in time to avoid danger. However, even though everyone has seen Li Huaiguang's ambition and conspiracy, Dezong Li Shi still has illusions about him.In order to appease Li Huaiguang, Dezong announced that he would go to Xianyang in person in the near future to condolences to the three armies.A few days later, Emperor Dezong issued an edict to promote Li Huaiguang to the rank of Taiwei, increase the number of food towns, and give him an iron coupon to avoid death. When the emperor's envoy came to Li Huaiguang's barracks with the edict, Li Huaiguang finally met him.He threw the death-prevention coupon on the ground in front of the envoys, and said, "Does the Holy Majesty doubt me? Usually, the iron coupon is given for fear of rebellion. I, Li Huaiguang, don't want to rebel, but the Holy Majesty grants the iron coupon to me." Me, do you want to force me to rebel?" The envoy was dumbfounded. I've seen someone with strong words, but I've never seen someone with such strong words! Li Huaiguang broke face with the court like this, of course everyone in the Shuofang army noticed it.As the troops brought out by Guo Ziyi back then, most of the soldiers of the Shuofang Army were still loyal to Li Tang's court.Seeing Li Huaiguang's rebellion, Zhang Mingzhen, Shuofang's left soldier, was the first to stand up. He deliberately stood at the gate of the barracks, and shouted loudly to the soldiers: "The commander-in-chief watched the rebels occupy Chang'an but did not send troops. Today, he is so disrespectful to the envoys of the emperor. Do you really want to rebel? If he decides If I want to give up my fame for a lifetime and bring about the disaster of genocide, I have risked my life today, and I will fight to the death!" Upon hearing this, Li Huaiguang said to the left and right: "I will not rebel, but because the rebel army is still very powerful, our army must recharge its energy and store up energy to wait for the right time." On the same day, Li Huaiguang ordered people to strengthen the city wall of Xianyang under the pretext that the emperor was going to patrol Xianyang. A few days later, he ordered the whole army to pull out their camp and enter Xianyang. If Li Huaiguang really wants to attack Chang'an, is it necessary for him to move to Xianyang?This is obviously a move for no silver here.Zhang Mingzhen couldn't bear it any longer, so he went directly to Li Huaiguang and said, "A few days ago, you said you didn't want to rebel, so why are you bringing a large army here now? Why don't you attack Chang'an and kill Zhu Xi?" Li Huaiguang became furious, and said to the left and right: "Zhang Mingzhen is crazy!" Immediately ordered someone to pull him out and hacked him to death on the spot. So far, no one doubts Li Huaiguang's intention of treason anymore. Li Huaiguang had an adopted son named Shi Yanfen. After witnessing Zhang Mingzhen's murder, he immediately sent someone to Fengtian secretly to report to Emperor Dezong, requesting that Li Huaiguang be removed from military power.However, this matter was soon known by Li Huaiguang.Shi Yanfen was arrested immediately, and Li Huaiguang asked him sharply: "I treat you as my own son, yet you want to destroy my whole family! You know that I will never forgive anyone who betrays me. What else do you have to say?" Shi Yanfen smiled wryly: "The emperor regards you as a thigh, and you regard me as a confidant; since you can betray the emperor, why can't I betray you? To avoid the notoriety of being a traitor, I would rather die." Li Huaiguang originally wanted to kill Shi Yanfen himself, but after hearing this, he immediately changed his mind.He said to his attendants: Don't kill him, let him live, but cut off his body piece by piece to eat! The left and right attendants looked at each other, motionless. No one is willing to carry out Li Huaiguang's order. Finally, someone stepped up and cut Shi Yanfen's throat with a knife, then turned and left.Others followed suit and walked out of the big tent.Before leaving, they left a sentence for Li Huaiguang: Shi Yanfen is a righteous man and cannot be humiliated like this! Li Huaiguang was so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke, but there was nothing he could do. Unless, he killed everyone. The envoy returned to Fengtian and truthfully reported Li Huaiguang's various rebellious behaviors to Dezong. Until now, Emperor Dezong Li Shi finally saw a fact that had been obvious for a long time - Li Huaiguang was going to rebel! After realizing the seriousness of the situation, Dezong hastily ordered to strengthen the vigilance, and at the same time ordered civil and military officials to pack up and prepare to move to Liangzhou (now Hanzhong City, Shaanxi) if there is any change. On February 24, Emperor Dezong granted Li Sheng the title of governor of Hezhong (formerly known as Puzhou, which was changed to Hezhong Prefecture in the eighth year of Kaiyuan Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, now Yongji City, Shanxi Province) and Tongjiang Jiedu envoy, and transferred the main areas under Li Huaiguang's jurisdiction. It was allocated to him (Li Huaiguang has held multiple positions over the years. In addition to the Shuofang Jiedu envoy, he also served as Yin in Hezhong, Governor of Lingzhou, Governor of Zhenbei, and many other places in Bin, Ning, Qing, Jin, Jiang, Ci, etc. Jiedushi seems to be the No. 1 figure in the military). On the 25th, Dezong also granted Li Sheng the title of Tongping Zhangshi. Dezong's above-mentioned move is obviously to allow Li Sheng to replace Li Huaiguang's position in the imperial military circle. On the night of the 25th, Li Huaiguang started. He brazenly sent troops into the barracks of Li Jianhui and Yang Huiyuan.Li Jianhui escaped alone, Yang Huiyuan was killed by pursuers on the way to Fengtian, and both men's tribes were annexed by Li Huaiguang.After he succeeded, Li Huaiguang blatantly yelled: "I am in harmony with Zhu Xi today, so drive away and stay away!" (Volume 230) I have teamed up with Zhu Xi, Li Shi can go as far as he goes! On February 26, the first year of Xingyuan, Emperor Dezong Li Shi and all civil and military officials fled Fengtian in a hurry and went to Liangzhou. Looking at the long road of exile ahead, Li Shi's eyes were full of confusion and desolation. Because he can't see the end of the road.