Chapter 30 A single spark can start a prairie fire: resistance in Hebei

Yan Gaoqing and Yan Zhenqing are a pair of cousins. Their five-generation ancestor is Yan Zhitui, a famous official in the Northern Qi Dynasty.In this book, Yan Zhitui lists many historical anecdotes that he has seen and heard in his life, as well as some of his own life experiences, and uses plain but wise language to instruct future generations, expounding on self-cultivation, family harmony, There are many principles in studying and keeping in good health, conducting oneself in the world, and religious beliefs.Although the book was dubbed "Family Instructions", because it contains a lot of valuable wisdom in life, it spread quickly as soon as it came out, and was passed down and recited by people. Generation after generation of scholars.

The Yan brothers grew up in such a family atmosphere, so their knowledge, cultivation and personality are naturally comparable to others.When the Anlushan rebels swept across the river north and south, and most of the officials of the Tang Dynasty surrendered, the reason why they were able to die rather than surrender, and fought arduously with the rebels with great courage, was their internal motivation. Family origin. The time when Eryan entered the official position was about the same, both in the middle of the Kaiyuan period.Among them, Yan Gaoqing became an official under the shadow of his father, and was known in history as "a straight man with a strong sense of responsibility". He first served as a recorder in Weizhou and joined the army, and made remarkable political achievements. ("Old Book of Tang Yan Gaoqing Biography").After that, he was promoted repeatedly, and became the prefect of Changshan (now Zhengding County, Hebei) in the 14th year of Tianbao.

Compared with his shrewd and capable cousin Yan Gaoqing, Yan Zhenqing is a relatively pure scholar.History said that he was "less diligent in his studies, good at rhetoric, especially in Gongshu" ("Old Tang Book·Biography of Yan Zhenqing").The so-called "You Gongshu" means being good at calligraphy.As we all know, Yan Zhenqing is one of the few calligrapher masters in Chinese history. He combined the writing techniques of compiling script and official script into regular script and created a unique "Yan style" calligraphy. Liu Gongquan and Zhao Mengfu from the Yuan Dynasty are known as the "Four Masters of Regular Script"; among them, Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan are also known as "Yan Jin and Liu Gu".

In the middle of the Kaiyuan period, Yan Zhenqing was a Jinshi with excellent grades in Jiake. After that, he officially became an official and served as a supervisory censor. Known for being fair and strict.At that time, a major case occurred in Wuyuan County (northwest of Baotou City, Inner Mongolia today), in which there was a lot of grievances.Coincidentally, since the unjust case happened, the local area has been dry for a long time, but as soon as Yan Zhenqing solved the case, God immediately rained down.The local people were very pleasantly surprised, and they all called this rain "Yushi rain".

In the next few years, Yan Zhenqing was constantly promoted, and successively served as a censor, a judge in Tokyo, and a member of the military department. The prefect of Pingyuan (now Shandong Ling County). When the Yan brothers became the local prefects, it was just before the Anshi Rebellion.At this time, of course they would not have imagined that fate would push them to the cusp of the times in one fell swoop. Yan Gaoqing's Changshan County is located in the southwest of Fanyang, under the jurisdiction of Anlu Mountain; Yan Zhenqing's Pingyuan County is located in the south, although it is not under the jurisdiction of Fanyang, but like Changshan, it is only ten days away from Fanyang.In other words, once the rebels in An Lushan go south, the county where they are located will be the first to bear the brunt.

On November 9th, the 14th year of Tianbao, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the rebels marched southward the next day.Nine days later, An Lushan personally led an army to Gaocheng (now Gaocheng City, Hebei).This place is a county under the jurisdiction of Changshan, which is very close to Changshan County City. Yan Gaoqing knew that his troops were weak, and if he resisted forcefully, the result would only be the destruction of the city and the death of the people.A hero does not suffer immediate losses, so the shrewd Yan Gaoqing decided to adopt an expedient measure-temporarily paralyzing Anlu Mountain by false surrender.

Afterwards, Yan Gaoqing went to Gaocheng to meet An Lushan with Yuan Lvqian, the chief historian.An Lushan felt that Yan Gaoqing was quite knowledgeable about current affairs, so he rewarded him with a third-rank purple robe and a goldfish bag.But at the same time, An Lushan also kept an extra thought, keeping some of Yan Gaoqing's children in the army as hostages, and then ordered him to still guard Changshan.In addition, An Lushan sent General Li Qinjue to lead thousands of troops to Jingxingkou (fifth of the Taihang Eight Xings, located in the west of today's Luquan City, Hebei). Qing.

On the way back to Changshan, Yan Gaoqing pointed to the purple robe and goldfish bag on her body, and said to Yuan Luqian with a wry smile, "What are you doing wearing this?" Yuan Luqian understood.After returning to Changshan, Yan Gaoqing and Yuan Luqian secretly recruited troops and strengthened the city defenses, ready to rise up against Anlu Mountain at any time. Compared with Yan Gaoqing who was caught off guard, Yan Zhenqing seemed to be more sensitive. Because he smelled the rebellion early on. On the eve of the Anlu Mountain uprising, Pingyuan County suffered heavy rains for days, so Yan Zhenqing actively organized personnel to renovate the city walls, dig deep trenches, stockpile food and grass, and sorted out and perfected the relevant information of the reserve personnel in the county on the grounds that the city walls were old and worried about collapse. Prepare to expand the force at any time.While doing all this, Yan Zhenqing pretended to be doing nothing on the surface, calling a group of literati and scholars to go boating in the river pond, drinking wine and composing poems, hoping to dispel An Lushan's suspicion.

However, Yan Zhenqing's changes were not hidden from An Lushan's eyes, and his eyes and ears immediately reported to him.But in An Lushan's view, Yan Zhenqing was just a scholar who didn't understand military affairs. Even if he had been prepared for a long time, he would never be able to break through any big waves, so An Lushan didn't take it seriously. After An Lushan raised troops, he immediately sent an official letter to Yan Zhenqing, ordering him to lead 7,000 soldiers from the two counties of Pingyuan and Boping (now Liaocheng City, Shandong) to immediately station at the Yellow River Ferry to serve as the vanguard for the rebels going south.

An Lushan's move is really a loss.If Yan Zhenqing stood still, it would be tantamount to admitting that he and An Lushan were not of the same heart; if he obeyed the order, it would be tantamount to becoming An Lushan's cannon fodder.In short, no matter how Yan Zhenqing reacted, the result was very passive. However, Yan Zhenqing will not be led by the nose by An Lushan.Since An Lushan dared to turn against the imperial court, why would Yan Zhenqing tear himself apart with An Lushan? Therefore, at the moment of receiving the letter from An Lushan, Yan Zhenqing did not hesitate at all, and immediately dispatched Li Ping to Beijing to report to Xuanzong the battle situation in Hebei, and at the same time expressed his determination to defend his homeland to the death.

When Li Ping arrived in Chang'an, almost all counties and counties in Hebei had surrendered to Anlu Mountain. Xuanzong received news every day that made him extremely disappointed and distressed.The exhausted old emperor once lamented in front of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty: "There was no righteous man in the twenty-four counties?!" (Vol. A gleam of light said to the ministers in surprise and joy: "I don't even know what Yan Zhenqing looks like, I never thought he could do such a righteous deed!" After getting in touch with the imperial court, Yan Zhenqing blatantly raised the banner of rebelling against An Lushan.Due to the full preparations for the battle, within ten days, Yan Zhenqing recruited more than 10,000 warriors.Afterwards, he sent people to Changshan to meet with his cousin Yan Gaoqing to raise volunteer soldiers together, echoing each other with the momentum of the horns, "breaking the way of the thieves back, so as to ease the momentum of the western bandits." ("Old Tang Book Biography of Yan Gaoqing") An Lushan never imagined that just as he was making great strides in front of him, the Yan brothers had already ignited a raging fire in his backyard... After the fall of Tokyo, most of the officials headed by Yin Daxixun of Henan Province surrendered to Anlu Mountain. Only a few people stayed behind in Tokyo, such as Li Yu, Yushi Zhongcheng Lu Yi (son of Kaiyuan Prime Minister Lu Huaishen), and interviewing judge Jiang Qing. , was executed by An Lushan on the same day. In order to show off his martial arts and make an example to others, An Lushan ordered his subordinate Duan Ziguang to take the heads of Li Yu and the other three to various counties in Hebei for a tour exhibition.On December 17th, Duan Ziguang came to Pingyuan County triumphantly, but what greeted him was not fearful eyes and flattering smiles, but Yan Zhenqing shouted out of righteous indignation: "Come on, give me this guy!" Down!" Before Duan Ziguang came back to his senses, he was pushed out by Wuhua Datiang and chopped into two sections with one knife.Yan Zhenqing immediately buried Li Wei and the other three people generously, and called all the soldiers to pay homage to them. Yan Zhenqing's first charitable act in Pingyuan County quickly received responses from surrounding counties.Subsequently, officials of the Tang Dynasty in Jingcheng (now southeast of Cangzhou City, Hebei), Raoyang (now Shenzhou City, Hebei), Hejian (now Hejian City, Hebei), and Jinan (now Jinan City, Shandong) and other places punished Anlu one after another. The officials appointed by An Lushan then formed their own teams, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of people, and jointly elected Yan Zhenqing as the leader of the alliance to resist An Lushan unanimously. Later, Xuanzong issued an edict to promote Yan Zhenqing to be the servant of the household department, and also to be the prefect of Pingyuan. A scholar who was not looked down upon by An Lushan in the past has now become the leader of the resistance movement in Hebei. At the same time, Yan Gaoqing quickly launched operations in Changshan. His primary goal is to unplug the nail that An Lushan placed beside him - Li Qincou. Yan Gaoqing forged a military order from An Lushan and ordered Li Qincourt to lead his troops to Changshan to receive the reward.On the evening of December 22, Li Qin came to Changshan excitedly. Yan Gaoqing asked Yuan Luqian and others to prepare a sumptuous banquet, accompanied by kabuki and dancers.Li Qincouu and his subordinates immediately drank to their heart's content, and soon became very drunk and lay down in a mess in the banquet hall. Yuan Luqian winked at his subordinates, and Li Qincouu, who was still asleep, lost his head in a daze, and all his cronies were captured.The next day, Yan Gaoqing beheaded all these captives, and then ordered people to disperse the small number of rebels still stationed in Jingxing, and took control of Jingxingkou. A few days later, An Lushan sent generals Gao Miao and He Qiannian back to Youzhou to recruit soldiers. When the two passed through Changshan, Yan Gaoqing sent someone to capture them both with the same method.At that time, the rebel general Zhang Xiancheng (son of Zhang Shougui) was besieging Raoyang under the order of An Lushan.In order to save his life, He Qiannian suggested to Yan Gaoqing, "I have a plan, which can not only ensure that Changshan will not be lost, but also immediately break the siege of Raoyang." His plan is to send people to spread the news, claiming that Li Guangbi has led the The 10,000 elite came out of Jingxingkou from Hedong, and were going to break the siege of Raoyang first, and then go north to attack Fanyang. Hearing this news, not only the rebels who went south would be shaken, Zhang Xiancheng would also break the siege and flee. Yan Gaoqing was overjoyed, and immediately acted according to the plan, and Zhang Xiancheng escaped overnight.Yan Gaoqing immediately sent people into Raoyang to comfort the soldiers, and at the same time ordered people to go to the surrounding counties, saying: "The imperial army has entered the east from Jingxingkou and will arrive at any time. At that time, the rebellion in the Hebei counties will be wiped out. Before that, If you take the initiative to return to the court, you will be rewarded heavily; if you persist in your obsession and resist to the end, you will be killed!" The counties in Hebei did not sincerely surrender to Anlu Mountain, but now they heard that the officers and soldiers were about to fight back, so one after another, a total of seventeen counties announced their departure from Anlu Mountain, and still obeyed the imperial order. "The only ones attached to Lushan are the six counties of Fanyang, Lulong, Miyun, Yuyang, Ji, and Ye." (Volume 217) In this way, a single spark formed a prairie fire. Later, Yan Gaoqing took advantage of the victory and sent another man named Ma Sui to Fanyang to persuade Jia Xun, the left-behind chief appointed by An Lushan, to surrender to the court.Ma Sui said: "Anlu Mountain is gracious and rebellious. Although it temporarily gains Luoyang, it will eventually perish. If you can raise the flag of the uprising, punish several generals who refuse to obey, and return to the country with Fan Yang, you will overthrow Anlu Mountain. Foundation, this is a rare feat!" Jia Xun was tempted.However, frightened by An Lushan's lustful power, Jia Xun still felt a little palpitated, so he hesitated all the time. Jia Xun's indecision not only made him miss the "unworldly achievement", but also brought him a fatal disaster. Because walls have ears. One of An Lushan's generals got the news from nowhere, and immediately sent someone to report to Anlushan. At this time, An Lushan had already led the army out of Luoyang, and was planning to attack Tongguan and take Chang'an in the west.Unexpectedly, news came from Hebei that the seventeen counties had turned their backs one after another, and then received a secret report of Jia Xun's attempt to rebel. An Lushan who had just walked to Xin'an (now Xin'an County, Henan Province) couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, and immediately turned his horse. Head back to Luoyang, and ordered people to rush back to Fan Yang to deal with Jia Xun. A few days later, An Lushan's special envoy arrived in Fanyang, secretly hanged Jia Xun and massacred all his clansmen.When Ma Sui heard that Jia Xun had been killed, he fled Fanyang in a hurry and hid in Xishan, where he was taken in by a hermit and escaped. This Ma Sui, who survived the catastrophe, later became a famous general in Dezong's first dynasty, and made great contributions on the battlefield of defending Li Tang Sheji and quelling the chaos of feudal towns. After An Lushan killed Jia Xun, Niu Tingjie was ordered to take charge of Fan Yang's military affairs. At the same time, he issued two orders in succession, one to Shi Siming, a brave general stationed in Hebei, and the other to a general stationed in Hanoi (now Qinyang City, Henan Province) Cai Xide ordered the former to march south with 10,000 troops, and the latter to march north with 10,000 elite soldiers, with the same goal—to besiege Changshan. The reason why An Lushan was so angry and played the two trump cards of Shi Siming and Cai Xide at once was obviously because the fire that Yan Gaoqing and Yan Zhenqing lit in his backyard really burned him. If the fire is not extinguished quickly, An Lushan is afraid that his old nest will be in danger of being burned down at any time.A new move in the hegemony, a grand plan for the first time, how could Fan Yang have a problem at this time?Especially at this moment when An Lushan was about to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, Fan Yang couldn't have any problems!