Chapter 47 War and Peace

In the autumn of the second year of Zhenyuan (AD 786), the five-year-long rebellion among feudal vassals finally came to an end. But before Emperor Dezong Li Shi had time to enjoy the long-lost peace, a shocking battle report came from the northwest border. According to the battle report, the Tubo Prime Minister Shang Jiezan brazenly sent troops to invade Jingzhou (now Jingchuan County, Gansu), Longzhou (now Longxian, Shaanxi), Binzhou (now Binxian, Shaanxi), Ningzhou (now Ningxian, Gansu) and so on. They plundered people and animals wantonly, harvested crops forcibly, and caused disturbances on the border. The states and counties were unable to control them, and they closed their cities to protect themselves.

Internal troubles are flat, and foreign troubles have arisen again. This Great Tang Empire really will never have peace! After receiving the battle report, Emperor Dezong hurriedly issued an edict, ordering Hunyan to lead 10,000 people and Luo Yuanguang to lead 8,000 people to be stationed in Xianyang immediately to prevent Tubo from invading Guanzhong.In mid-September, the rangers of the Tubo vanguard really penetrated into the area of ​​Haoding (northwest of Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province), only 150 miles away from Chang'an. Dezong was so frightened that he hurriedly ordered martial law in the capital, and sent Zuo Jinwu General Zhang Xianfu to Xianyang to strengthen the defense.

Although three generals were successively sent to garrison the gate of Chang'an, the scene of Tubo's invasion of Chang'an more than 20 years ago (the first year of Guangde Emperor Daizong) still kept flashing before Dezong's eyes. Will history repeat itself? Dezong was terrified. A few days later, rumors suddenly spread in Chang'an, saying that the emperor Li Shi had prepared his luggage and food, and was ready to flee Chang'an at any time.Prime Minister Qi Ying realized that such rumors would not be purely groundless, so he hurried into the palace to meet Dezong and said, "Your Majesty, there are rumors that you plan to leave the capital, and now the whole capital is panicked! Your Majesty, two years ago You were lucky enough to visit Fengtian before, and although you were lucky enough to return to Chang'an, will you have such a blessing again? Your Majesty Wanwang think twice, and make a decision after discussing everything with your ministers."

After speaking, Qi Ying knelt down on the ground, exchanging tears. As the saying goes: no wind, no waves, the reason why the rumors are raging, of course, is because Dezong has already moved to escape, and he has indeed ordered the eunuchs to start preparations.In fact, Dezong was very contradictory in his heart when he did this.If the generals of the Tang army could stop the Tubo soldiers, how could he want to live the life of abandoning the capital and going into exile? At the thought of going into exile, Li Shi could not help but feel the sadness of resigning from the temple in a hurry two years ago.

Qi Ying was right, if he gave up Chang'an easily, no one could guarantee when he would come back. After thinking for a long time, Li Shi finally listened to Qi Ying's advice and gave up the idea of ​​running away. In the last ten days of September, Shang Jiezan personally led a large army to Qiancheng (now south of Longxian County, Shaanxi Province), and the soldiers pointed directly at Fengxiang.Li Sheng, who was Fengxiang Jiedu at the time, decided to launch an ambush in Qiancheng to kill the prestige of the Tubo people. Li Sheng ordered his brave general Wang Bi to select 3,000 elites and let him lie in ambush on the only way the Tubo army must pass.Before Wang Bi set off, Li Sheng gave him an opportunity to face-to-face: "When the enemy enters the ambush circle, don't attack his vanguard, because the enemy's main force will follow and kill you, and you will definitely not be able to resist. Therefore, let his The vanguard will pass by, and when the troops holding the five-color flags and wearing tiger and leopard clothes come, they will be the main force of their central army, and if you attack by surprise, you will definitely win a big victory."

Later, Wang Bi followed Li Sheng's plan and caught the Tubo people by surprise.The Tubo Central Army was beaten dizzy by Wang Bi's ambush and fled in defeat.Because none of the soldiers of the Tang army knew Shang Jiezan, he was able to escape in the chaos.If it wasn't for this, the majestic Tubo prime minister might have lost the battle. After escaping from the dangerous situation, Shang Jiezan said to the left and right in surprise and anger: "Tang's good generals, Li Sheng, Ma Sui, and Hun Yan are just ones, and they should be counted!" (Volume 232) A few days later, Shang Jiezan reassembled an army of more than 20,000 people and marched into Fengxiang territory in mighty force.

What surprised Fengxiang's soldiers and civilians was that the Tubo people were uncharacteristically strict this time, and the military orders were strict along the way, and they did not offend the people of the Tang Dynasty.After arriving at Fengxiang City, Shang Jiezan did not attack the city, but ran to the gate of the city himself, and shouted at the defenders on the top of the city: "Li Linggong (Li Sheng's central official position is Zhongshu Ling) I'm here, why don't you come out to receive the reward?" The soldiers of the Tang army in the city were puzzled by Monk Zhang Er, wondering what kind of medicine Shang Jiezan was selling in the gourd.They immediately reported Shang Jiezan's funny words and deeds to Li Sheng.

Li Sheng sneered. This is Shang Jiezan's anti-indirect trick, but it's a bit clumsy. Li Sheng told the soldiers: Everyone can't hold on, let's see what else he can do! Shang Jiezan camped at the foot of Fengxiang City for one night. The next day, he saw that the defenders on the city were heavily guarded, obviously indifferent to his slightly childish strategy.Shang Jiezan was very disappointed, but he didn't dare to launch an attack, so he ordered the whole army to retreat, and turned to Binzhou and Qingzhou (now Qingyang County, Gansu Province) to continue looting. There is no indecent assault.Shang Jiezan gave Li Sheng an intimate greeting, and of course Li Sheng had to express it.At the beginning of October, Li Sheng once again dispatched Wang Bi and others to lead five thousand cavalry to the border between Tang and Tupu.

In mid-October, the Tubo garrison of Deshabao got the information, and immediately dispatched 20,000 people to meet Wang Bi's Tang army, but was defeated by Wang Bi.Wang Bi led his troops to take advantage of the victory to pursue, conquered Shashabao in one go, beheaded the Tubo general Hu Quluximeng, burned all the grain, grass and materials hoarded in the fort, and then retreated and returned home triumphantly. Shang Jiezan never expected that he was in full swing in the Tang Dynasty, but Li Sheng took advantage of his unpreparedness to stab him in the back and burned all the things they had looted from the Tang Dynasty over the past few years. !

Shang Jiezan knew that the rear was defeated, and the morale of the army would inevitably fluctuate, so he had to lead his troops to retreat northward.On October 17, Shang Jiezan withdrew to Heshui (east of Qingyang County), and camped in the north of Heshui that night. Of course, Shang Jiezan didn't know at this time that a Tang army had already approached his camp under the cover of night. This is a surprise attack team sent by Binning Jiedu envoy Han Youhuan. Just as the Tubo people fell asleep, Tang Jun suddenly rushed into the camp and cut down hundreds of people in a short while.When the Tubo people came back to their senses, the Tang army suddenly retreated and disappeared into the night.Shang Jiezan was furious, and immediately assembled his troops and set out to pursue them.

At this moment, Han Youhuan had already set up a battle in a place called Pingchuan not far away, and ordered people to carry a large number of war drums to hide in the valley to the west.When Shang Jiezan's army chased to Pingchuan, he discovered that the Tang army was already waiting here, and the rumbling drums of war suddenly sounded from Xishan.Worried about being caught in an ambush by the Tang army, Shang Jiezan hurriedly turned his horse's head and led his troops to flee northward overnight, throwing all the food and wealth looted by the invaders into the camp. It seems that the Tubo people are not as powerful as in the legend. This is the conclusion reached by Li Sheng and Han Youhuan. In the winter of the second year of Zhenyuan, Han Youhuan asked Dezong to take the initiative to attack Tubo and recover Yanzhou (now Dingbian County, Shaanxi Province) and Xiazhou (now north of Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province), which were occupied by Tubo people not long ago. Ma Sui's Hedong Army cooperated with them to attack the Tubo flank.Dezong played immediately and ordered Han Youhuan, Ma Sui, Hun Yu, Luo Yuanguang and others to act together. In mid-December, Ma Sui led his troops to Shizhou (now Lishi County, Shanxi).Hequ Liuhu Prefecture (collectively referred to as Yuzhou, now Eketuo Banner, Inner Mongolia) had always heard of Ma Sui's reputation, so he surrendered in hope of wind. Shang Jiezan was terrified when he learned that the Tang army had sent troops several times.Just as the so-called house leak happened to rain all night, at the turn of winter and spring this year, large-scale natural disasters broke out in Tubo. Sue the Tang Dynasty for peace. Of course Dezong knew that this was just a tactic by the Tubo people, so he flatly refused. Shang Jiezan saw that the road was blocked, and immediately sent someone to meet Ma Sui with a generous gift and an extremely humble letter, promising to return the Tang Dynasty cities and lands that had been invaded in recent years. Ma Sui was moved. Since the purpose of sending troops is to recapture the occupied city, and now the Tubo people are willing to take the initiative to return it, why bother to use swords and guns and waste money? Ma Sui immediately stationed troops in Shizhou and stopped advancing into Tubo territory. At the same time, he played Dezong, strongly advocating peace with Tubo. The civil and military ministers in the court were divided into two factions: the main combat faction was Li Sheng, Han Youhuan, and Han Huang who had recently entered the court as prime minister; the main peace faction was Ma Sui and another prime minister Zhang Yanshang. The reason why Ma Sui and Zhang Yanshang tried their best to advocate for peace, apart from the fact that their judgments on the current situation are different from those of the main combatants, is that they both had a feud with Li Sheng, so they deliberately sang against him. Despite the constraints of the peace faction, at the beginning, the war faction still had the upper hand.Because Li Sheng and Han Youhuan insisted that: the Tibetans have always been untrustworthy, "if they are weak, they will seek alliances, if they are strong, they will join the bandits", so seeking peace at this time must be deceitful!Dezong deeply agrees with this.In order to strengthen Dezong's confidence, Han Huang even offered to raise all the military expenses and food expenses for the war with Tubo, without Dezong's trouble. At this time, Han Huang was still serving as the Jianghuai transshipment envoy. With his financial support, Dezong was naturally full of confidence, so he rejected Ma Sui's request for peace talks and urged him to continue to march. In the spring of the third year of Zhenyuan (787 A.D.), just as the main fighters were gearing up and preparing for a massive attack, the situation suddenly took a major turn. Han Huang, the "money bag" of the imperial court and Dezong's most important finance minister at present, made a statement on this occasion. In February 2010, he fell ill and died. The main peace faction took the opportunity to launch a counterattack and began to exert influence on Dezong from two aspects. These two aspects, one related to diplomacy and the other related to internal affairs, can also be said to be Dezong's two weaknesses. In terms of diplomacy, Dezong had old grievances with Huihe. Of course, the Zhuhe faction and the Tubo people should make full use of it; Li Sheng once again made a contribution in this battle against Spitfire, and the peacemakers can use this to overthrow Li Sheng and facilitate peace talks. Ma Sui and Zhang Yanshang believed that as long as they firmly grasped these two weaknesses, it would not be difficult to change Dezong's mind. Regarding the old grievances between Dezong and the Huihe people, the time goes back to 25 years ago.At that time, it was the first year of Daizong Baoying, the Anshi Rebellion had not yet been settled, Shi Chaoyi was still entrenched in Luoyang, the eastern capital, and Dezong Li Shi's identity was King Yong and Marshal of the World's Soldiers and Horses.That year, Dengli Khan of Huihe personally led an army to the south, originally intending to plunder Guanzhong, but later, through the mediation of Pugu Huai'en, he agreed to help the Tang Dynasty attack Shi Chaoyi.Yong Wang Li stationed troops in Shanzhou at a suitable time, and out of the friendship of the landlord, he personally took people to the Huihe camp on the other side of the Yellow River to meet Dengli Khan. When the two sides met, Yong Wang and Li Shi presented Dengli Khan with an equal ceremony. Unexpectedly, Dengli Khan was furious and emphasized that Li Shi must perform "worship and dance ceremony" to him, which is the etiquette of ministers to kings.Of course Li Shi and his officials disagreed, so they argued hard.The two sides fell into a stalemate.The Huihe people immediately dragged Li Shi's officials Yao Ziang, Wei Ju, Wei Shaohua, and Li Jin out of their tents, whipped each of them 100 times, and expelled Li Shi from the camp and sent him back to Shanzhou.The next day, Wei Ju and Wei Shaohua died of their injuries.For the young Li Shi, this incident was of course an unforgettable shame and humiliation. At that time, Li Shi secretly vowed that if he ascended the throne one day, he would definitely wash away his shame. Now, Tubo is doing everything possible to ask for peace, and of course it is going to make a fuss about this matter.Not long after Han Huang's death, Ma Sui personally accompanied the Tubo envoys into the court, and strongly expressed his intention to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty and jointly deal with the Huihe people. Dezong's inner balance began to tilt. At the same time, Zhang Yanshang also took advantage of Dezong's suspicion of Li Sheng to create public opinion in the court, claiming that when the Tubo invaded last year, they plundered Ping, Ning and other places, but they had nothing to do with Li Sheng's jurisdiction Fengxiangqiu. This is enough to prove that there must be some ulterior secret between Li Sheng and the Tubo people. After hearing the rumors, Li Sheng felt very apprehensive. He never expected that Shang Jiezan's counter-intrigue, which was similar to pediatrics, would play a terrible role at this moment.What made him feel helpless was that Li Shi, the emperor, was a very suspicious person. For such rumors, he always believed in them rather than in nothing. Li Sheng couldn't sleep or eat because of this, so he immediately sent his son and nephew to the court to ask for his haircut to become a monk.Of course Dezong dismissed his request with kind words of consolation.However, this does not mean that Dezong's suspicion of Li Sheng has eased.Li Sheng knew this very well, and then he entered the court himself, and insisted on resigning from the post of Fengxiang Jiedushi on the grounds of suffering from a foot disease. At first, Dezong didn't approve, but Zhang Yanshang couldn't help but kept whispering in his ears, saying that "Li Sheng is not suitable for a long-term army", so he made up his mind to remove Li Sheng's military power and negotiate peace with Tubo at the same time. In March of the third year of Zhenyuan, Emperor Dezong summoned Li Sheng to the court, and said with a pleasant face: "I decided to negotiate peace with Tubo for the sake of the people in the northwest region to live and work in peace and contentment. You fought with Tubo last year, so you are not suitable to serve as a border envoy. It is best to stay in the imperial court and assist me day and night; as for Feng Xiang's position, you can choose someone to take over." What should come has finally come. At this moment, Li Sheng felt dejected and relieved at the same time. In late March, De Zongjia conferred on Li Sheng the rank of Taiwei, who was still concurrently serving as the Secretary of the Communist Party of China, retaining the original rank and title, and exempting all other part-time positions. On the first day of May, Emperor Dezong appointed Hun Yu as the envoy of the League, Cui Hanheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, as the deputy envoy, and Song Fengchao, the eunuch, as the capital supervisor. He ordered him to lead more than 20,000 people on foot to Qingshui (now Qingshui County, Gansu Province) to sign a peace agreement with Tubo. . Before Hun Yu set off, Li Sheng repeatedly warned him that he must strengthen his guard at the meeting place and never trust the Tubo people.When Zhang Yanshang heard about it, he immediately went to sue Dezong, saying: "Li Sheng tried to obstruct this alliance, so Hun Yu was put on strict guard. Your Majesty, if we show any signs of suspicion, the other party will also doubt us. In this way, both sides Doubt, what kind of alliance are you talking about?" Immediately Dezong summoned Hun Yu and strictly demanded that he treat the Tubo people with sincerity and sincerity, and that he must not be suspicious and destroy the sincerity of the Tubo people's reconciliation. A few days later, Hun Yu reported that he had agreed with Tubo to meet on the 19th day of the fifth lunar month in this year.Dezong immediately approved and agreed.Zhang Yanshang immediately summoned all the civil and military officials, circulated Hun's memorial to everyone, and said triumphantly: "Li Taiwei insisted on his prejudice, thinking that the Tang and Tu countries could not reach a peace agreement, but what happened? In the memorial, the date of the alliance has been set, and the emperor has also approved it. I wonder what Li Taiwei thinks?" Zhang Yanshang's words quickly reached Li Sheng's ears.Li Sheng shook his head and smiled wryly, and said to his cronies: "I grew up in the northwest border, I am familiar with the situation in Tubo, and I also understand the thoughts of the Tubo people, so I opposed the peace negotiation. What I am most worried about is that the court will be deceived by Tubo, and thus suffer humiliation!" " At this moment, everyone from the top to the Dezong, down to the officials, thought that the Tang-Tu alliance was a certainty. Who else would pay attention to Li Sheng's worries? On the sixth day of May, Hun Yu and others left Chang'an as planned and went to the meeting place. However, what is strange is that Tubo did not send someone to Chang'an until more than half a month after Hun Yu left, that is, on May 22, saying: "Qingshui is not an auspicious place, please change it to Yuanzhou." Once the agreement is signed, we will immediately return the two prefectures of Yan and Xia.” Dezong didn't think much about it, and immediately sent a fast horse to chase Hun Yu, informing him that the location had changed. Why did the Tibetans suddenly change the location of their alliance? Few civil and military personnel in the Manchu Dynasty doubted this. Only a general named Ma Youlin of the Shence Army suggested to Dezong: "The terrain of Tulishu is dangerous, and it is easy for the Tibetans to lay an ambush there. It is best to change it to Pingliangchuan in Yuanzhou. (Northwest of Pingliang City, Gansu Province today), where the terrain is flat and open, relatively safe.” Hearing this, Dezong had a vague premonition in his heart, but he couldn't tell what the premonition was. Just in case, Dezong still adopted Ma Youlin's suggestion, and immediately sent someone to inform the Tubo envoys that the location of the alliance would be changed to Pingliangchuan. At this time, in Yuanzhou (now Guyuan County, Ningxia), thousands of miles away, Tubo Prime Minister Shang Jiezan was looking at Chang'an in the southeast with a meaningful look. There was an equally meaningful smile hanging from the corner of his mouth...