Zhu Wen's troops surrounded Li Chan and others in Zezhou, and shouted to the governor Li Hanzhi to persuade him to surrender, "You have always relied on Shatuo and Li Keyong. Now, Prime Minister Zhang has surrounded Taiyuan, and General Ge Congzhou has also entered Luzhou and cannot leave." In ten days and a half, Shatuo can't even find a hole in the ground to hide in. How can you survive? Surrender quickly."
After Li Cunxiao captured Sun Kui alive, he immediately led the reinforcements to Zezhou. Hearing this, he was furious. He immediately ordered five hundred elite cavalry and rushed outside the Bian Army camp. They went around the camp to challenge the enemy and scolded them, "I'm just looking for The Shatuo people in the cave are trying to use your meat to feed my men so that you will be fat enough to go into battle!"
No one is good at hitting people, and no one is good at criticizing people. Li Cunxiao blocked the door and cursed in the street. The more he cursed, the more vulgar he became.
Bian general Deng Jijun was also a fierce general. He couldn't bear the humiliation and went out to challenge him. As a result, he was captured alive by Li Cunxiao. The Bian army was heartbroken and morale collapsed. That night, Li Chan led his army to escape.
Li Cunxiao and Li Hanzhi pursued them to Malao Mountain, where they defeated the Bian army and captured and killed tens of thousands of people. Still feeling uneasy, they continued the pursuit, chasing them all the way from Shanxi to Henan and to Huaizhou (today's Henan). Qinyang City, Province) before returning.
Li Cunxiao's troops did not dismantle their armor and returned to Luzhou to continue rescuing Luzhou.
Ge Congzhou of Luzhou saw that the Bian army in Zezhou had collapsed, so he had to abandon the city and escape before the Hedong army completed the strategic encirclement, retaining some fresh troops for the Bian army.
At this point, the military operation of the due south front failed.
Zhu Wen failed to gain any benefit from it. Instead, he lost many troops and horses. He couldn't help being furious. He severely reprimanded the defeated generals and beheaded Li Fan, who was defeated in Zezhou.
Li Chan was from the Huangchao Caojun, but he was not a direct descendant of Zhu Wen. He actually joined the Caojun after Huangchao stationed in Chang'an, and was not affiliated with Zhu Wen. During the "Battle of Wangmandu", he surrendered to Zhu Wen together with Ge Congzhou and others. In this expedition to Zezhou, the commander-in-chief of the Bian Army was Zhu Wen's eldest son, Zhu Youyu. When the defeated army was held accountable, they couldn't kill their own sons, so they could only pass the blame to Li Chan. The reason was that it was "quite against the rules", which meant that the commander-in-chief Zhu Youyu made the arrangements properly and was not at fault, but you were disobedient and failed. Deserve to kill.
After eliminating the threat from the south, Li Keyong appointed Kang Junli as the Zhaoyi Army's successor, and Li Cunxiao as the governor of Fenzhou. This disappointed Li Cunxiao.
Li Cunxiao believed that he was the first to capture Sun Kui alive, save Zezhou, and capture Luzhou, so he should be in charge of Luzhou. But the godfather gave Lu Shuai's position to Kang Junli, which was totally unreasonable. He was so angry that he couldn't eat for several days, and he often killed people to vent his anger.
Now, only the Central Army Group left in the west was personally commanded by Prime Minister Zhang Zhangjun.
A wonderful drama has just begun.
【Wonderful Central Army】
Before the army moved, Emperor Zhaozong personally went to Anxi Tower to bid farewell to Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun asked Zhaozong to retreat, saying that he had a confidential report.
After removing the rest of the crowd, Zhang Jun said confidently: "Your Majesty, please allow me to eliminate external troubles first, and then eliminate internal worries for Your Majesty!" In the informal colloquial language of the central court, "outside" refers to the local vassal town, and "inside" Refers to eunuchs.
Zhang Jun uttered wild words again, but what he didn't know was that the eunuch Yang Fugong was secretly eavesdropping.
Hearing this, Yang Fugong broke into a cold sweat.
Later, Yang Fugong led the generals of the Forbidden Army to bid farewell to Zhang Jun. Yang Fugong toasted Zhang Jun, but Zhang Jun refused to drink. Yang Fugong sarcastically said: "The prime minister is holding Shangfang's sword and the empire's heavy troops. Why are you so unhappy?"
Zhang Jun glanced sideways, snorted coldly, and said: "When I kill Li Keyong and the class teacher returns in triumph, I will let you see how happy I am!"
One sentence made Yang Fugong sweat profusely.
The relationship between Yang Fugong and Li Keyong has a long history. They can be regarded as family friends. They have mutual interests and share weal and woe. He originally opposed the imperial court's use of force against Li Keyong, but Zhang Jun repeatedly hinted that he would eradicate Yang Fugong. How could Grand Eunuch Yang just sit back and wait for death?
Niu Hui, like most court officials, was only bearish on this military operation, while Yang Fugong was "short", secretly sabotaging and obstructing, acting as a traitor to Li Keyong in Hedong, and paving the way for the Central Army's disastrous defeat.
Zhang Jun led his army out of Yindi Pass and aimed at Taiyuan Prefecture.
Li Keyong sent veteran generals Xue Zhiqin and Li Chengsi to build the first line of defense in Hongdong County with 3,000 people, and Li Cunxiao led 5,000 people to build the second line of defense to deal with the invasion of the army.
Han Jian, the governor of the country, led 300 death squads to rob the camp at night and sneak attack Li Cunxiao. Unexpectedly, the news was leaked, and Li Cunxiao took advantage of the situation and set up an ambush to defeat Han Jian. The Central Army's initial division was unfavorable.
In fact, Potian was just a small defeat with the loss of 300 people. As a result, the Kansai Group Army led by Jingnan and Fengxiang fled upon hearing the news, and in an instant, the Central Group Army collapsed. The Hedong Army pursued them all the way and forced the Central Army back to Jinzhou south of Hongdong County.
It really broke down at the first touch.
In order to boost morale, Zhang Jun went to the battlefield in person to direct the battle, and more than 3,000 people were killed. So the soldiers from the four towns of Jingnan, Fengxiang, Baoda and Dingnan rushed across the Yellow River and returned to their own towns. Only the Forbidden Army brought by Zhang Jun and the Xuanwu Army sent by Zhu Wen were left, totaling about 10,000 people.
Only then did Zhang Jun understand what war is. It was far from the feather fan and silk scarf he imagined, and the oars and oars disappeared into ashes while talking and laughing. From then on, Zhang Jun stayed behind closed doors and never dared to fight again.
Li Cunxiao discussed with his generals and concluded that although Zhang Jun was a deceitful, stupid and useless person, he was still the prime minister of the dynasty and a close minister of the emperor, and the troops he led were also the emperor's forbidden army. The Hedong Army used rat-proof weapons, so he always wanted to leave a little favor for the court, and also for himself. Way back.
So Li Cunxiao turned to attack Jiangzhou south of Jinzhou. The governor of Jiangzhou abandoned the city and fled; subsequently, the Hedong Army that besieged Jinzhou took the initiative to retreat fifty miles and set up camp, taking the initiative to leave an escape gap for Zhang Jun.
Zhang Jun and Han Jian were obviously unaware of Li Cunxiao's behavior. Since the back road to Jiangzhou was cut off, Zhang Jun could only go east first, cross Wangwu Mountain, and flee to Mengzhou. He temporarily demolished a few houses, used wooden planks to piece together a simple raft to tie the city, and crossed the Yellow River in embarrassment before heading west. He turned back and fled to Luoyang, the eastern capital.
After letting Zhang Jun go, Li Cunxiao dared to take Jinzhou, and then went on to plunder Cizhou, Xizhou and other areas east of the Yellow River.
Prime Minister Zhang was doing the grinding with his bare buttocks - spinning around in circles, which was embarrassing.
Emperor Zhaozong received the news of the complete defeat of the conquest army, and was at a loss to do anything. He received another memorial from Li Keyong, and the arrogance vividly appeared on the paper:
"Three generations of our ancestors have been favored by the four late emperors. We defeated Pang Xun, eliminated Huang Chao, deposed Li You, and protected Yiwu. We have made outstanding achievements. Your Majesty is able to sit on the dragon throne today. It is probably because of the hard work of us Shatuo people!
If my crime is to attack Yunzhou, then Tuoba Sigong captured Yanzhou and Yanzhou, and Zhu Wen attacked Yunzhou and Xuzhou, why didn't Your Majesty send troops to attack them? Reward them, but kill me, double standards?
When the court is in trouble, they praise me as Han Xin, Peng Yue, Yi Yin, and Jiang Ziya. When the situation is stable, they call me Rong, Jie, Hu, and Yi. Isn't it true that the vassal town with the most powerful troops in the world is worried that one day it will suffer the injustice that I am doing now? The life of the barbarians is also life!
To put it bluntly, even if I am guilty and the central government wants to punish me, it should be done step by step in accordance with national laws. How can I take advantage of others' danger (the Luzhou crisis) and add insult to injury? The great, glorious and correct Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, why are you so shameless and a scoundrel?
I have gathered 500,000 Tibetan and Han soldiers and defeated Zhang Jun by luck. I will lead the light cavalry to knock on the palace gate and kowtow under the Jinluan Palace. I will tell His Majesty the grievances of the evil villain who murdered Zhongliang in front of His Majesty. The edict was sent back to the royal ancestral temple, and then he was willing to die. "
Literary insults and curses, naked military threats.
Zhaozong and the Manchu civil and military officials were shocked and frightened, and were forced to show favor to Li Keyong and seek peace:
The imperial edict demoted Prime Minister Zhang Jun to the position of E-Yue Dao Observer, and demoted Prime Minister Kong Wei to the position of Jingnan Festival Envoy.
Despite being demoted again and again, the two culprits of the war are still deputy provincial-level cadres.
Of course Li Keyong did not agree with this price, so he wrote another memorial:
"Zhang Jun defrauded and used His Majesty's trust and used His Majesty's eternal foundation to bet on his temporary fame. Knowing that Zhu Wen and I had enmity, he made friends with him in private. Isn't it a taboo for courtiers to have personal relationships with feudal lords? Now, I have been deprived of it. I have lost all my official positions and titles, and cannot return to the original town. The world is so big, but there is no place for me. I have no choice but to take my army to Chang'an. Please, Your Majesty, please show me a clear path."
Follow the prescription and grab the medicine, still the same way, lead the troops to the battlefield.
Zhaozong had no choice but to issue another edict, demoting Zhang Jun to be the governor of Lianzhou (now Lianzhou City, Guangdong Province) and Kong Wei to being the governor of Junzhou. At the same time, he restored all Li Keyong's titles and ordered him to return to Taiyuan. Soon after, Li Keyong was given the title of envoy, the title of Li Hanzhi, the governor of Zezhou, was restored, and Zhang Jun was demoted to the position of chief minister of Xiuzhou (Guiping County, Guangxi Province).
The emperor should not be pushed too far, so Li Keyong used only enough to earn enough face, and then taught Taiyuan Prefecture.
Yang Fugong also waited for the opportunity to take revenge, and sent people to ambush Kong Wei in the east of Chang'an City, and plundered all his belongings. Kong Wei only escaped with his life.
How could Zhang Jun dare to go to the distant Guangdong and Guangxi regions alone? Only then did he realize Yang Fugong's insidiousness and knew that he would never reach Guangxi alive, so he fled halfway and went to Han Jian in Huazhou, and together with Kong Wei secretly asked Zhu Wen for help.
"For the sake of the party and the state, please give me a hand!"
This is the pitiful thing about Zhang Jun and Kong Wei. They are not the protagonists who control the game from beginning to end, let alone the designers of the chess game. They have always been chess pieces being used and manipulated by others. Their rapid rise to the top and their rise to power were not due to their quick thinking and elegant writing, and they were not able to lead military campaigns, nor were they able to strategize because of their literary skills, military strategies, and tactics. The honor and disgrace of a lifetime are all at the mercy of others.
It's a pity that they didn't understand it thoroughly. Zhang Jun, in particular, always believes that he is the top designer.
Now, even the issue of their stay, life and death is not in their own hands, nor in the hands of the so-called morality and law. Instead, they have become a tool in the game between the two powerful vassals - Li Keyong and Zhu Wen. bargaining chip between central and local governments.
Zhu Wen went to the imperial court to avenge Zhang Jun and Kong Wei. He Li Keyong could lead his troops to force the palace, but I, Zhu Wen, couldn't? Your Majesty, how about I also argue with you in person?
Emperor Zhaozong was walking on thin ice, with thorns on the palms and backs of his hands. He dared not offend anyone, so he could only neutralize the mud and issue another edict to revoke the previous relegation order.
What kind of golden words are there, what are you talking about? Haha, the emperor also has the physiological need to fart.
As for Zhang Jun and Kong Wei, the Emperor said eloquently: "Wherever you like, go wherever you like." No matter what, you can go wherever you like, it doesn't matter.
It really doesn't matter.
The two finally chose to stay in Huazhou and hide under the protection of Han Jian, the governor of the Zhenguo Army.
Li Keyong single-handedly defeated the joint military operation between the central court and local vassal towns, which severely damaged Emperor Zhaozong's self-confidence in reducing vassal vassals. It also destroyed the remaining dignity of the central court, making the vassal towns all over the world have a final attitude towards the empire. The awe is gone.
