Chapter 48 Three birds with one stone: The dangerous "Pingliang League"

At the beginning of intercalary May, Dezong's ominous premonition became stronger and stronger, so he hurriedly ordered Zhenguo Jiedu envoy Luo Yuanguang to station in Panyuan (to the east of today's Pingliang City, Gansu Province), and Binning Jiedu envoy Han Youhuan to station in Luokou (now southeast of Zhuanglang County, Gansu Province) ), ready to assist Hun Yan at any time. After Luo Yuanguang led his troops to Panyuan, he rushed to Pingliangchuan immediately and said to Hunyu, "Panyuan is seventy miles away. If there is an emergency, how can I get the news? Please Hunyu My lord asked me to transfer the troops here and join my lord in battalion."

Hun Yu recalled the emperor's advice to him before leaving, and resolutely disagreed with joining forces with Luo Yuanguang.Luo Yuanguang refused to listen to him, and insisted on moving his troops to the 30th li of the Hunyan camp, and built a camp with deep trenches and high fortifications.In contrast, the shabby camp was built very sloppily, with shallow and narrow trenches and sparse fences, which could not stop the cavalry attack at all. After Luo Yuanguang set up camp, he was still worried after thinking about it, so he sent another army to ambush on the west side of Hunyu camp.At the same time, Han Youhuan also sent a cavalry of 500 people to ambush near the Hunyu Camp.Han Youhuan told them: "Once there is a change, you will attack Baiquan (northwest of Pingliang City) westward and disperse the troops of Tubo."

Of course, Hun Yu at this time would not know that although the secret operations of these two fraternal troops did not conform to the alliance's purpose of "treating each other with sincerity and sincerity", it would soon save his life. Zhenyuan three years leap May 19th.Pingliang River. According to the prior agreement, the Tang and Tutto parties sent 3,000 armed forces to line up on the east and west sides of the alliance altar; at the same time, each party sent 400 civilian officials to arrive under the alliance altar with the special envoys of the two countries. Just before the start of the alliance ceremony, Shang Jiezan suddenly sent someone to inform Hun Yu, suggesting that the two sides send dozens of cavalry to search each other's area to show their sincerity, and at the same time ensure that both sides can abide by the principle of "confidant, heart-to-heart, Treat each other with sincerity" is the purpose of the alliance.

Hun Yan felt that Shang Jiezan's suggestion was very reasonable, so he agreed without thinking about it. When the scouting cavalry of both sides entered their respective areas, the Tubo cavalry shuttled freely in the Tang army's camp, as if they were strolling in their own backyard; and as soon as the Tang army cavalry entered the Tubo army camp, they were all tied up, and every one of them was perfect. took the opponent's prisoner.At the same time, tens of thousands of elite cavalry from Tubo had already ambushed in the valley to the west of the League Altar, like an arrow drawn with a bowstring, ready to shoot into Hun Yu's heart at any time.

Hun Yu knew nothing about it. At this time, he had led the civil servants to the altar of alliance and was changing the uniform in the tent. Suddenly, the war drums of the Tubo camp made three loud bangs.Immediately afterwards, earth-shattering shouts of killing flooded over the Pingliang River like a tide, rushing towards the League Altar. This sudden great change immediately frightened the Tang Dynasty officials out of their wits.Before they came back to their senses, the Tubo army had already entered the tent.A large number of officials including the eunuch Song Fengchao were immediately cut down in a pool of blood.After all, Hun Yan is a military commander, so his reaction was relatively quick. He hurriedly escaped from the back door of the tent, grabbed a horse at random, and jumped on it. His camp ran wildly away.The Tubo cavalry chased after him desperately, brushing past Hun Yu's back and ears like locust arrows.

The officers and soldiers of the Tang army who were in charge of guarding the alliance altar were caught off guard, and hundreds of people were hacked to death at once, and the others fled eastward in a hurry.The Tubo cavalry pursued closely and captured more than a thousand people along the way, including Cui Hanheng, deputy envoy of Tang Huimeng and Shangshu of the Ministry of War. Hun Yan rode his horse and galloped for more than ten miles, finally escaped back to the camp, but the scene in front of him made him dumbfounded - the whole camp was empty, and everyone fled without a trace! After fighting in the battlefield for decades, it was the first time that Hun Yan felt so embarrassed and depressed.

Just when Hun Yu was almost desperate, Luo Yuanguang ordered the original ambush soldiers to gather outside the camp and set up a formation.After a while, the Tubo pursuers arrived, and they couldn't help being stunned when they saw the Tang army waiting in full formation.At this time, Han Youhuan's ambush was also moving towards Baiquan as originally planned, and the Tubo pursuers hurriedly turned around and retreated for fear of being cut off. Hun Yan, who was on the line of life and death, saved his life in this way. On the same day when the Tang army was massacred by Tubo, Emperor Dezong Li Shi was celebrating the success of the Tang-Tubo alliance at the court meeting.He said to all civil and military officials with a smile on his face: "It is really a blessing for the country to stop the army today!"

Ma Sui responded immediately: "That's true." The ministers agreed one after another. Dezong's smile suddenly became brighter. Among the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, only Liu Hun, who had just paid homage to the Prime Minister two months ago, had a solemn face.After his colleagues finished flattering him, he said coldly: "The Tibetans are like wolves, they cannot be restrained by a covenant. I have always been deeply worried about today's alliance!" All the officials were stunned, but Li Sheng cast an approving glance at Liu Hun and said, "What Liu Hun said is true."

Dezong's face changed suddenly, and he said sharply: "Liu Hun is a scholar who doesn't know the military strategy, and you, Li Sheng, are the imperial captain, and you even said such ignorant words!" Seeing that the emperor was angry, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed.Li Sheng and Liu Hun had no choice but to apologize. After retiring from the court, Dezong's lingering anger persisted, and he was depressed all day long.But he absolutely did not expect that the news that really made him depressed would come soon - late at night, Binning Jiedu envoy Han Youhuan sent an urgent battle report to Daming Palace: Tubo robbed the alliance, and the striker had arrived in this town!

Dezong was like five thunderbolts, standing on the spot. Everything was figured out by Li Sheng and Liu Hun! Why are these Tibetan sons of bitches so dishonest and contradictory? That night, Dezong ordered someone to send the battle report to Liu Hun.Early the next morning, Emperor Dezong called Liu Hun into the palace, and said embarrassingly: "Xianqing is a scholar, but I didn't expect to be able to judge the enemy's situation so accurately!" After the failure of the alliance, Dezong's mood was extremely low.The news of the Tubo people's re-invasion made him panic all day long, and made him want to run away again.After Li Sheng and others noticed it, they tried their best to dissuade him, and managed to stabilize Dezong's mind.

Although Dezong was persuaded, the threat of the Tubo people still made him feel like sitting on pins and needles.On May 21st, Dezong hurriedly dispatched the eunuch Wang Ziheng to Yuanzhou to see Shang Jiezan with the edict of peace. It's really a turn of events.A few months ago, it was the Tibetans who begged for peace in a low voice, and was repeatedly rejected by Dezong; now it is his turn to ask the Tibetans for peace. Will they buy him? It's a pity that Wang Ziheng just walked to the border of Tang and Tubo, and before he crossed into the territory of Tubo, he was sent back by others, and he didn't even see Shang Jiezan's face. Dezong couldn't figure it out - it was the Tubo people who came to beg for peace at the beginning, and now it is the Tubo people who have turned their backs on the alliance and turned their swords. What do they want to do? Shang Jiezan quickly gave Dezong the answer. At the same time that Dezong was in a state of panic and worry, Shang Jiezan was in Wonju and said to Cui Hanheng, the captured Minister of the Tang Military Department: "I made a pair of shackles out of gold. Zamp (King), unexpectedly let him go, wasted effort, only catch you people who don't care." Later, Shang Jiezan received several prisoners. One of them was Ma Sui's nephew Ma Yan, and there were also eunuch Ju Wenzhen, general Ma Ning of the Hunyu tribe, and others. Shang Jiezan said kindly to Ma Yan: "We Hu people regard horses as our lives. At the turn of winter and spring last year, there was no grass growing in the Hequ area, and the horses were too hungry to move. At that time, if the servant (Ma Sui) crossed the river and attacked, we The entire army must be wiped out! In such a difficult situation, I had no choice but to negotiate peace with your country. Thanks to the full help of the servant, this matter was finally facilitated. Now that our soldiers have been preserved, how can I detain them again? His nephew!" After finishing speaking, Shang Jiezan released Ma Yan, Ju Wenzhen, Ma Ning and others on the spot, and sent them all back to China.Cui Hanheng and other high-ranking officials were taken to the back of Tubo and imprisoned. After Ma Yan and others returned to China, Dezong soon heard what Shang Jiezan said to Ma Yan from the eunuch Ju Wenzhen. Dezong suddenly realized, and at the same time he gritted his teeth with hatred. It turned out that the so-called alliance was purely a scam! And the most hateful thing is - Ma Sui actually colluded with the Tubo people secretly and sold the emperor and the court! Is it tolerable, which is unbearable? On the fifth day of June, that is, the second day after Ma Yan and others returned to the court, Emperor Dezong immediately issued an edict to add Ma Sui as Situ and still serve as a servant, but all other military positions such as Hedong Jiedushi and Deputy Marshal of Bingma exempt.Ma Sui never dreamed that the result of his deliberate attempts to contradict Li Sheng turned out to be the same as Li Sheng's end—he was completely deprived of military power by Dezong by "showing respect and favor"! Shang Jiezan smiled contentedly after learning that Ma Sui had been lifted from military power by Emperor Dezong. In fact, until this step, Shang Jiezan's game has just been completed. From the moment he was ambushed by Li Sheng last September and nearly lost his life in the city, Shang Jiezan began to carefully design this game of chess.His first step was to personally lead the troops to Fengxiang, but he did nothing wrong with Fengxiangqiu, and deliberately returned empty-handed, so as to frame Li Sheng; This move has exerted the effect of four or two.His second move is to use the rift between Ma Sui and Li Sheng to let Ma Sui choose the position of the main peace, and then use him to influence Dezong to promote peace talks.The third move is to use the opportunity of the "Pingliang League" to capture or kill Hun Yu, and then let Dezong know that there is some ulterior conspiracy between Ma Sui and Tubo. Zong Zhi's hand to get rid of Ma Sui or at least remove his military power. After completing these three steps, Shang Jiezan will be able to settle the three "good generals of the Tang Dynasty" Li Sheng, Ma Sui, and Hun Yan, and let the door of the Tang Dynasty be completely opened for him from now on! (Volume 232: "Shang Jie praised and disliked Li Sheng, Ma Sui, and Hun Yu, saying: 'Get rid of these three people, Tang Ketu also!'") There is no doubt that this is a perfect plan that interlocks and kills three birds with one stone.Of course, this plan cannot be implemented without the cooperation of Dezong Li Shi.Judging from the current results, Dezong did cooperate quite tacitly with Shang Jiezan—not only did the Tubo people successfully survive a crisis of "many sheep and horses died, and food transportation was not sustainable", but also made Shang Jiezan Li Sheng and Ma Sui, whom Zan hated and scrupled the most, were removed from the battlefield, which opened the green light for Tubo's future invasion. On the whole, except for Hun Yan who slipped through the net by chance, Shang Jiezan's game of chess was quite perfect. He could be proud of it. However, although Shang Jiezan resolved the crisis with his strategy, the side effects of natural disasters cannot be completely eliminated in a short period of time.From last winter until June of this year, the Tubo defenders stationed in Yanzhou and Xiazhou were plagued by unsustainable food and supply shortages. Many people were infected with the plague and suffered from serious illness. homesickness. Shang Jiezan was very helpless, even though he really wanted to take advantage of the Tang army's setback to rush into Guanzhong and rob Chang'an city, but the reality did not allow him to do so.In the end, Shang Jiezan had no choice but to withdraw his troops.He ordered people to burn down the houses in Yanzhou and Xiazhou, demolished the city walls, and then drove away with the local Han people. After Ma Sui lost power because of his efforts to promote the peace talks, Zhang Yanshang, the prime minister of the same peace party, was greatly worried, so he fell ill, and died of depression and depression a month later. Not long before Zhang Yanshang's death, the prime ministers Qi Ying and Liu Zi had been pushed out of the court by him.At this time, there was only Liu Hun left as the prime minister in the court.Dezong realized that at this difficult time when the alliance failed and the top and bottom were centrifugal, the court needed a senior, experienced, wise, and courageous prime minister to take the helm. Looking at the world, who can take on this important task? Li Mi of course. In June of the third year of Zhenyuan, Li Mi, who was then the observer of Shanguo, was called back to the court by Dezong Zheng, and was immediately appointed as Zhongshu Shilang and Tongping Zhangshi.For this appointment, Li Mi did not refuse, which really pleased Dezong, and also surprised the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. He firmly refused the position of prime minister, why did he agree so readily this time? The answer is simple - Dezong's court is in trouble! At this time, the Emperor Dezong's court was facing a huge potential danger. If Li Mi didn't take action to resolve it, another rebellion similar to the feudal vassal rebellion in the Jianzhong period would probably break out in the empire. Because Li Sheng and Ma Sui, who once enjoyed high prestige in the army, had increasingly tense relations with Dezong at this time.Although they have all been deprived of military power, the support of a large number of old ministries still exists for them, and more importantly, the suspicion of Dezong Li Shi still exists for them. In other words, in the face of Li Sheng and Ma Sui, the two heroic counter-insurgency heroes, Dezong often has a kind of worry that "the tail is too big to lose". Fear of not being rewarded.In the words of the common people, this is called hemp stalk beating wolves with fear at both ends! If this situation is allowed to continue, who can guarantee that Li Sheng and Ma Sui will not be forced to take risks?Who can guarantee that they will not follow in the footsteps of Li Huaiguang? In order to resolve the tense relationship between the emperor and the heroes and avoid disastrous consequences, Li Mi must act as a prime minister to mediate. Li Mi knew that he was duty-bound.