Chapter 44 Li Bi, Emperor of the Three Dynasties

Zhu Xi was defeated and Chang'an was restored, and the next person Dezong had to deal with was of course Li Huaiguang. Long before the recovery of Chang'an, Emperor Dezong had already issued an edict, enumerating all kinds of crimes committed by Li Huaiguang, and at the same time highly praised the loyalty of Shuofang soldiers.In the imperial edict, Emperor Dezong declared that Li Huaiguang could be pardoned for his meritorious service to the country in the past. However, all of them should be dismissed, and the prince should be given the post of Taibao; the soldiers and horses under his command should be ordered to elect a person of high merit and prestige to command; once this person is elected, the imperial court will immediately grant Jingjie.

Although the imperial edict was issued very early, it is necessary to send someone to announce it, otherwise Li Huaiguang would not be able to see it. On the day he returned to Chang'an, Dezong couldn't wait to send an emissary to Hezhong. This person is Kong Chaofu. When he went to Weibo to convey the spirit of the central government, Kong Chaofu was actually very conscientious. If it wasn't for that damn Tian Xu's rebellion, Weibo's stability and unity would have been achieved, and he wouldn't have been so embarrassed.For this reason, Kong Chaofu has always felt very sorry.During this trip to the river, he vowed to do it more beautifully and earn back the face he lost last time.

However, Kong Chao's father never expected that instead of earning back his face this time, he even lost his life. As soon as he arrived in the middle of the river, Kong Chao's father put on a very serious and businesslike look, and immediately suppressed the arrogance of the fierce Li Huaiguang.In the face of Comrade Kong Chaofu's awe-inspiring righteousness, Li Huaiguang felt ashamed of his appearance, and quickly took off his official uniform, "treating crimes in plain clothes."Seeing this scene, Li Huaiguang's left and right soldiers couldn't help sighing.Although they did not support Li Huaiguang's rebellion, after all, they had followed him through life and death for many years, and now seeing his reputation ruined in one lifetime, they couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

Under normal circumstances, the officials receiving the edict "treating crimes in plain clothes" are actually just a gesture. Unless the emperor wants to behead or exile the person, the special envoy in charge of announcing the edict will ask the other party to put on the official uniform again.In other words, the purpose of this gesture by the officials awaiting the crime is to show their repentance;Regardless of the ultimate fate of the official under edict, anyway, this set of official Tai Chi must be beaten, and this is the performance of the upper way. But it's a pity that this father of Kong Chao is very unscrupulous.Li Huaiguang obediently took off his official uniform, and only waited for him to give some good words to comfort him before putting on his official uniform. Unexpectedly, Brother Kong ignored him and didn't even look at Li Huaiguang.

That's going too far. Even if Li Huaiguang was dismissed from his previous official positions, he is still a first-rank prince and Taibao now. What kind of official is Kong Chaofu?In Xiaoxiao's work, you are only a fifth grade, what qualifications do you have to show off with Li Taibao? Faced with this very unscrupulous special envoy, Li Huaiguang's left and right could not help but feel a little angry. Immediately afterwards, this unscrupulous special envoy made an even more intolerable move-he actually summoned all the generals on the spot and ordered them to immediately implement the emperor's edict and elect a person to replace Li Huaiguang.

It's over. Kong Chaofu sent himself to the guillotine in this way. You know, although the edict is written in this way, your task is only to convey it, not to execute it; besides, this edict is originally intended to offend people, and you will be fine if you leave as soon as you finish reading the edict, why bother to take advantage of it? ?Isn't this setting yourself on fire and seeking your own death? As soon as Kong Chaofu's words fell, Li Huaiguang's left and right sides immediately exploded, and immediately drew his knife out of its sheath, and rushed forward to chop this ignorant special envoy of the central government into a pile of meat, and even killed the eunuch who came with him. cut.

Li Huaiguang glanced coldly at the mangled Kong Chaofu, put on his official uniform slowly, and then gave an order to the left and right soldiers. This order is only eight words-train soldiers and strictly guard the city! He is going to fight the court to the end. The news that Li Huaiguang allowed his subordinates to kill the special envoy of the Central Committee quickly spread back to Chang'an. Dezong was shocked and angry. Obviously, Li Huaiguang knew that the real intention of the imperial court was to boil the frog in warm water—first remove his military power, give him a idle job, and when the time is right, find an excuse to kill him!

Therefore, Li Huaiguang cannot be fooled by this.Since it is not enough to be soft, Dezong has no choice but to be tough, and meet Li Huaiguang with swordsmen and a showdown! But it's easy to say, but if we really want to fight, the Shuofang army under Li Huaiguang's command has always been a major concern of Dezong.Although a considerable number of Shuofang officers and men were concerned about Li Tang and were unwilling to follow Li Huaiguang to rebel, there were not a few people who were still loyal to Li Huaiguang.If the court wanted to wipe out this military force, it must be much more difficult than dealing with Zhu Xi.

For several days, Dezong tossed and turned, unable to sleep at night. In the last ten days of July, an important figure who received attention from the government and the public returned to the court from the local government. Dezong was so refreshed that he immediately appointed him as a regular servant of Zuo Sanqi (according to "Old Tang Book · Official Records", the The post was originally from the third rank, and later promoted to the third rank, "in charge of serving the rules and regulations, and preparing consultants to deal with it", which is equivalent to the emperor's senior think tank, and is usually awarded to respected elders and ministers).

At this moment, the person cited by Dezong as a think tank is Li Mi, the only surviving Emperor of the Three Dynasties and Veteran of the Four Dynasties in the Tang Empire. As early as Suzong's Lingwu period, Dezong learned from Li Mi as the eldest grandson of the emperor; after Suzong's court moved back to Chang'an, Li Mi retired and retired to Hengshan; Invited and soft-hearted, re-entered the court to assist, and lived in the Penglai Academy in the palace with the title of Hanlin Bachelor. Li Shi then made friends with Li Miwen as a prince; , was demoted from the court, and served as the governor of Chuzhou, Hangzhou and other places.After Dezong came to the throne, he thought that he could clarify Yunei by himself, but in the end it caused chaos in the world.It wasn't until he was in exile in Liangzhou that the remorseful Dezong finally remembered Li Mi, the emperor of the three dynasties, and hurriedly "conquered him urgently" and "ordered Bi Ri to wait for him in the western province."

Basically, it can be said that whenever the world is restless and the country is in trouble, Li Mi will definitely be called into the court; once the situation is a little stable, he will immediately fade out of people's sight for various reasons.Since the Anshi Rebellion, Li Mi's life trajectory has been running like this, and it has almost become a law.If it was an ordinary person in the officialdom who was always tossed and tossed like this, he would have been full of complaints and disheartened, but Li Mi had no complaints.Because he has no interest in fame and fortune, so for him, gains are not enough to be happy, and losses are not enough to worry about. As soon as Li Mi returned to court, Dezong couldn't wait to talk to him about Li Huaiguang.Dezong said: "Hezhong is very close to the capital, and Shuofang's soldiers are known as the elite. For example, Li Huaiguang's brave general Da Xi Xiaojun and others are notorious enemies of ten thousand people. I worry about this day and night. I don't know what to do? " Li Mi smiled lightly: "There are many things to worry about in the world, but when it comes to Hezhong, there is really nothing to worry about. When dealing with the enemy, the commander should be more important than the minions. Now, Li Huaiguang is the commander, people like Daxi Xiaojun It's just a minion, why should you care? As for Li Huaiguang, in Yichen's opinion, he is just a warrior who has lost his head. At the beginning, he was the one who broke the siege of Fengtian, but he faced Zhu Xi who was about to perish The traitor, however, refused to take action to exterminate him, instead he joined hands with him, allowing Li Sheng to establish a great achievement in eliminating Zhu Xi; now, Chang'an has been recovered, His Majesty has returned the palace, Li Huaiguang not only did not restrain himself, but tortured and killed the envoys, perverting the law , this kind of person is no different from a sleepwalking person, I am afraid that he will be killed by his subordinates soon, and the court will not even need to do anything." When Dezong heard this, his worries in the past few days suddenly eased a lot. Although Li Mi's remarks are somewhat overly optimistic, for Dezong who has suffered repeated setbacks and his self-confidence has been hit over the past few years, it is not a bad thing to be more confident and optimistic. Li Mi's optimism certainly strengthened Dezong's confidence, but Li Huaiguang was not so easy to deal with. In the autumn of the first year of Xingyuan, Hun Yu and Luo Yuanguang, who were ordered to conquer Li Huaiguang, encountered the tenacious resistance of Xu Tingguang, the fierce general in the river, in the area of ​​Changchun Palace in Tongzhou (to the east of Dali County, Shaanxi Province today).At the same time, successive years of wars have also exhausted the treasury's money and food, causing the court to be stretched for a while, so some courtiers suggested that Emperor Dezong pardon Li Huaiguang in order to reduce the growing military expenditure and ease financial difficulties. However, Dezong flatly rejected their proposal. Pardoning Li Huaiguang can certainly avoid the current war, but it cannot bring real peace.Because the mutual trust between the imperial court and Li Huaiguang has long since disappeared, even if the two sides temporarily stop fighting, it is impossible to turn hostility into friendship.In other words, the false peace brought about by the policy of appeasement is not only unsustainable, but it is likely to only accumulate energy for the next bigger war.Instead of this, it is better to eradicate the root cause of the war in one go.What's more, De Zongtai, who has been exhausted and disgraced by the rebellion of the feudal clans for several years, needs a real victory to revive his prestige!Therefore, no matter how difficult the current situation is, he must persevere to the end. Dezong's persistence soon paid off satisfactorily. From the beginning of August to the end of October, Hedong Jiedu, who was ordered to attack Li Huaiguang from the north, made Ma Sui a series of impressive victories.He first succeeded in persuading Li Huaiguang's brother-in-law Yao Tingzhen, generals Mao Chaoyang and Zheng Kang to recover Jinzhou (now Linfen City, Shanxi), Xizhou (now Xixian County, Shanxi), and Cizhou (now Jixian County, Shanxi), and then personally led the The troops conquered Jiangzhou (now Xinjiang County, Shanxi), and then divided their troops to sweep across the river, and captured Wenxi (now Wenxi County, Shanxi), Wanquan (now Wanrong County, Shanxi), and Yuxiang (to the east of Yongji City, Shanxi) in a row. , Yongle (southwest of today's Ruicheng County, Shanxi), and Yi's (now Linyi County, Shanxi), echoing Hunyan and Luo Yuanguang on the southern battlefield, forming a complete encirclement of Li Huaiguang who was guarding Hezhong City. Li Huaiguang has become the turtle in the urn. Even though he is still struggling, his defeat is only a matter of time. At the same time when news of success in Hezhong was spreading frequently, the situation on the Lianghe battlefield was also gratifying: in Hebei, Zhu Tao was beaten back by Wang Wujun, and the situation became increasingly tense. In addition, Zhu Tao was dead, and Zhu Tao was extremely panicked, so he had to go to the Biao pleaded guilty to the imperial court; on the Henan battlefield, the Tang army headed by Song Bojiedu envoy Liu Qia also began to turn defeat into victory, and successively forced to surrender or defeated Li Xilie's generals Li Cheng, Zhai Chonghui, Tian Huaizhen, Sun Ye and others, and overcame the slippery battle. Strategically important places such as Lizhou (now Hua County, Henan), Bianzhou (now Kaifeng, Henan), and Zhengzhou forced Li Xilie to shrink his front and surrender his old home Caizhou (now Runan County, Henan). Dezong Li Shi was very excited by the good news coming back from all directions. However, there was still a place in the vast world that he was always worried about. That is the wealth center of the empire - the Jianghuai region. Since Li Xiyeol launched the rebellion, his next-door neighbors, Huainan (Yangzhou) and Zhenhai (Runzhou, now Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu) have been in trouble.Chen Shaoyou, the governor of Huainan, is a soft-boned man who is greedy for life and afraid of death.When Li Xilie first raised his army, he even pretended to send troops to attack. Later, when Li Xilie's army became stronger, Chen Shaoyou hurriedly ceded the four states in his jurisdiction to Li Xilie.Soon, Chen Shaoyou heard that Zhu Xi proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an, and Dezong fled to Fengtian again. He felt that Li Tang was about to die, so he hurriedly collected all the salt and iron monopoly revenue stored in Yangzhou by the imperial court, including gold and silk worth eight million. Taking it as his own, and at the same time building cities and mobilizing horses and soldiers, there is a great tendency to support troops and separate regimes. Li Xilie showed off his might and conquered the city, while Chen Shaoyou took advantage of the chaos to separatist regime and continuously expanded his combat readiness. All these forced Zhenhai Jiedu envoy Han Huang to enter the first-level combat readiness state, and immediately took various measures to close the border to protect himself.He ordered the blockade of all checkpoints and ferries in the area under his jurisdiction, prohibiting cars, horses, boats and boats from leaving the country at will. A large number of camps and bunkers were urgently built on the front line of Dongxian (East of Zhenjiang City)... Han Huang's force deterrence obviously worked.After that, although Li Xilie had a great time fighting with the officers and soldiers in Henan, he still had no time and energy to send troops to Jiangdong; and Chen Shaoyou saw Han Huang's aggressive posture, so of course he didn't dare to act rashly.Therefore, during the exile of the Emperor Dezong's court, although the entire Jianghuai region was at war, it ended up maintaining a balanced situation, and there was no fight. However, with the recovery of Chang'an and Dezong's return to Luan, Chen Shaoyou and Han Huang's massive expansion of combat readiness had to be questioned.In particular, Han Huang's actions were so violent and the scene was so grand, which aroused great criticism from the public opinion in the DPRK and China.People have rumors that Han Huang obviously has different ambitions and plots against the law, otherwise why would he take advantage of the opportunity of relocation, and even overhaul the Stone City? Dezong Li Shi was disturbed by this rumor. Jiangdong is the big granary of the empire, if Han Huang really has different ambitions, then he will be in big trouble! Dezong immediately confided his uneasiness to Li Bi. Li Mi knew that Dezong was a very suspicious person, and the successive rebellions of the feudal clans in the past few years had aggravated his suspicion to a large extent.If the matter of Han Huang is not handled properly right now, the consequences will be unimaginable-because it is a small matter to force a Han Huang to rebel, but it will cause everyone in the neighboring Taoism to be in danger. Big trouble! Li Mi decided to dispel Dezong's doubts.He said: "Han Huang is loyal and honest. His tribute has never been cut off since His Majesty took the opportunity to relocate. Moreover, Han Huang's town Fujiang East Fifteen States, the local bandits are not infested, and the faction is peaceful. It can be said that he has made outstanding achievements. His Therefore, the stone city was built because seeing the turbulence of the Central Plains, maybe His Majesty will have a trip to Jiangdong, so he made preparations in advance to welcome the holy driver. Not attached to the powerful, offending too many people, it is inevitable to invite some slanderous words, may your majesty see clearly, and I can assure you that he has no second thoughts." Dezong glanced at Li Mi lightly: "There is a lot of discussion outside, and there are so many memorials to report him. Didn't Xianqing hear about it?" Li Bidao: "Of course I heard about it. I also know that Han Huang's son Han Gao, who served as a merit tester in the imperial court, has been afraid to go back to Jiangdong to visit his parents for a long time because of these slanderous remarks. " Dezong sneered: "Yes, even his son is so scared, you still guarantee him?" "Han Huang's thoughts are the clearest, and I would like to defend him on behalf of the minister. Please send the memorial to the Zhongshu Province, and then announce it to the civil and military officials, so that everyone can know the truth." "That's unnecessary." Dezong said, "I'm about to reuse you. You must not get involved in such complicated personnel affairs. Guaranteeing a person is not easy! You'd better not disagree with the majority, so as not to be hurt. Tired." After Dezong finished speaking, he deliberately looked tired and motioned for Li Mi to step back. After Li Mi withdrew, he presented a memorial on the same day, willing to use the lives of his whole family as a guarantee for Han Huang. Dezong had no choice but to summon Li Mi again a few days later, and said: "Xianqing actually went to Shu to act as a guarantor for Han Huang. For your sake, I have left the memorial (that is, stayed in the palace and did not send it to the middle school. Shuxing). I also know that you and Han Huang are old friends, but there is no need to risk your life for him!" Dezong's remark, on the surface, was to cherish Li Mi, but in fact he was already accusing him of "returning and protecting his relatives".Of course, Li Mi couldn't fail to hear the meaning.He said sternly: "How dare I lose to Your Majesty because of my old relationship! It's just that Han Huang really has no dissent. The reason why I went to the court is for the court, not for myself." Dezong raised his eyebrows: "Oh? How for the court?" "Nowadays there is a severe drought, locusts are infested, a bucket of rice in Guanzhong sells for a thousand dollars, public and private warehouses have been exhausted, but Jiangdong Fengren is the lifeblood of the court." Having said this, Li Mi obviously raised his voice, " May Your Majesty announce the minister's memorial as soon as possible to solve the confusion of the officials in the court, and tell Han Gao to go home to visit his relatives, so that Han Yu will feel grateful and dispel self-doubt, and send the Jianghuai tribute rice to the capital as quickly as possible. Isn't it for the court?" Dezong suddenly realized, and murmured: "Okay, you said it well... I finally understand." On the same day, Emperor Dezong immediately announced Li Mi's defense as a guarantor for Han Huang. At the same time, he summoned Han Gao and asked him to go home to visit his relatives. Clothes, light red is the fifth grade, dark red is the fourth grade).Finally, Dezong said to Han Gao: "Recently, your father has been slandered by many people. I have found out the inside story and will not listen to those rumors. Now that there is a shortage of food in Guanzhong, go back and tell your father to transport the food as soon as possible. The better!" When Han Gao returned to Runzhou, Han Huang was so moved that he burst into tears. He rushed to the pier in person that day, ordered someone to ship all 1 million hu of rice, and told his son Han Gao that he was only allowed to stay at home for five days. , Return to court as soon as the time is up. Five days later, Han Gao went to bid farewell to his mother, weeping and reluctant to part.Han Huang was furious, called him out and beat him up, then took him to the boat himself, and immediately ordered to sail regardless of the wind and waves. Chen Shaoyou in Huainan heard that Han Fu had donated one million dendrobium rice to the court, so he quickly donated 200,000 dendrobium.Dezong was greatly moved, and said to Li Mi: "I never thought that Han Huang could influence Chen Shaoyou to offer rice!" Li Mi smiled and replied: "It's not just Chen Shaoyou, all the Taoists in Jianghuai will definitely compete to pay tribute!" At the end of the year, when Chen Shaoyou learned that Song Bo Jiedu envoy Liu Qia conquered Bianzhou, he had obtained conclusive evidence that he had taken refuge in Li Xilie, and he was terrified.After Chen Shaoyou's death, Huainan general Wang Shao tried to stand up for himself. When Han Huang got the news, he immediately sent someone to warn him: "If you dare to make trouble, I will lead the army across the river to destroy you immediately!" Wang Shao knew that he was not Han Huang's. The opponent had no choice but to behave like a man with his tail between his legs, obediently waiting for the court to appoint a new Jiedu envoy. After Dezong learned of this, he was overjoyed and said to Li Mi: "Han Huang can not only stabilize Jiangdong, but also Huainan. It is really a tool of a minister. Xianqing really has the wisdom to know people!" Zhang Shi, Jianghuai transshipment envoy. Since then, Han Huang has jumped from a suspected potential rebel to the most important minister of the country most appreciated by the emperor.According to historical records, "Huang (Han Huang) transported river, Huai, millet and silk to the tribute mansion without a single month. Han Huang was able to keep his wealth and life, and he was able to increase his rank and rank, and he should be grateful to Li Mi; Li Shi, Emperor Dezong, was able to successfully eliminate a potential rebellion, keep the world's granary and the lifeline of the court, and he should also be grateful to Li Mi; As a result, the common people avoided a catastrophe of war where lives were devastated and families were destroyed. They should be more grateful to Li Mi! The ancients often said that "one word prospers the country, and one word ruins the country". Although Li Mi's performance in the "Han Huang Incident" did not mention the height of "one word prospers the country", it is close enough to be called The merits are immeasurable.If Emperor Dezong Li Shi had savvy, it shouldn't be difficult for him to learn some skills of knowing and employing people from Li Mi. Even if he couldn't draw inferences from one example, he should at least become smarter. However, it is regrettable that even with a wise man like Li Mi by his side, Dezong Li Shi's ability to govern has not been improved at all.The following incident suffices to prove it: A few days at the end of the first year of Xingyuan, a disturbing gossip began to circulate in Chang'an.The news said: Lu Qi, the treacherous minister who forced Li Huaiguang to rebel against him, is going back to court. It is said that Emperor Li Shi missed him very much.