【Lucky Stone Gate】
When the news of the arrival of troops from the three towns in Beijing reached Hedong, Li Keyong knew that he could no longer stay out of the matter. So on the same day, thirteen envoys were sent to recruit all the armed forces in the territory and go to Beijing to serve the king.
Hedong Li Keyong is the nemesis of the Kansai Group. Li Maozhen, Wang Xingyu and others still remembered the last disastrous defeat. After hearing that the Hedong army was dispatched, they immediately gave up the idea of abolishing Li, leaving thousands of soldiers and horses to guard the capital, and then bid farewell to Zhaozong.
After sending away the three plague gods, Zhaozong immediately re-established his civil service group, activated Kong Wei again, and restored his previous official positions and titles.
Kong Wei was seriously ill and had to be helped to get into the sedan chair and barely reach the capital. When the king and his ministers met, they hugged each other and cried. Kong Wei said that he was already in his twilight years and was too old and frail to hold such a big position, so he resolutely resigned.
Zhaozong comforted him in every possible way, telling him that he must always work hard for the sake of the country, the country, and the people of the world. Kong Wei's application for resignation was rejected.
Li Keyong mobilized the army, and Shangshu accused Li Maozhen, Wang Xingyu, and Han Jian of committing military crimes and killing state ministers. They were guilty of unpardonable crimes. He asked the emperor to issue an edict to allow Hedong to punish thieves. At the same time, the three towns were informed of the crimes committed by the three people.
Li Ke uses his name to speak the truth, his teachers are famous, and he occupies the commanding heights of morality and law. The Kansai Group is extremely scared.
When the Hedong Army arrived in Jiangzhou, Wang Yao closed the city and defended it. Just ten days later, the city was captured, Wang Yao was captured alive and beheaded; more than a thousand officials and generals in the city were massacred.
On July 1, Li Keyong arrived at Hezhong Prefecture. Wang Ke personally went out of the city to greet him. Li Keyong married his daughter to Wang Ke, and their children became in-laws in Hedong and Hezhong.
On July 3, King Kuang of Tongzhou abandoned the city and fled.
On July 4, Wang Xingyue arrived in the capital. Then he immediately summoned the eunuchs Luo Quanguan and Liu Jingxuan and told them that Li Keyong from Hedong had brought an army of 100,000, which was unstoppable. They must quickly take Zhaozong hostage and hold the emperor hostage to order the princes.
Luo Quanguan was the privy envoy and was closest to the emperor, so he reported that the Hedong Army was coming to cause trouble in Chang'an and asked the emperor to come out as soon as possible to avoid the chaos.
Liu Jingxuan was the commander-in-chief of the Shence Army. What Wang Xingyue didn't know was that Liu Jingxuan had already secretly attached himself to Fengxiang. Liu Jingxuan privately found Li Jipeng (the adopted son of Li Maozhen), the commander of Youshence Army, and told him that the Pizhou side (brothers Wang Xingyu, Wang Xingyue, and Wang Xingshi) were going to take action.
Under the test of stakes, the fragility of the Kansai Group once again emerged. Li Maozhen planned to abduct Zhaozong to Fengxiang, while Wang Xingyu brothers wanted to abduct Zhaozong to Pizhou.
Wang Xingyue urged Zhaozong to go to Pizhou as soon as possible to avoid the war. Zhaozong refused, and Prime Minister Kong Wei also rebuked Liu Jingxuan in person, claiming that the emperor should not leave the palace easily, otherwise the world would be in turmoil.
"It shouldn't be easy." Well, let me add some seasoning for you.
Li Jipeng led his men to set fire to the city of Chang'an and looted the east city of Chang'an. Can we leave now?
Zhaozong still refused to leave. Li Jipeng lost patience and commanded You Shence's army to forcibly kidnap Zhaozong.
At this time, an interesting scene took place: someone led troops to rescue him, and the person who rescued him was Wang Xingshi, the commander of the Zuo Shence Army.
The left Shence Army and the Right Shence Army fought each other outside the palace gate, and the Kansai kidnapping gangs fought among themselves for the hostages.
Zhaozong personally climbed onto the city gate tower and called on both sides to remain calm and restrained.
Li Jipeng was so angry that he bent his bow and shot an arrow at Zhaozong. Zhaozong ducked out of the way instinctively and "shot his sword" against Zhaozong's dragon body, shooting through the dragon's robe and nailing it into the rafters behind him.
Zhaozong was frightened, and the eunuchs on his left and right hurriedly helped him go downstairs to escape.
Li Jipeng ordered the palace gates to be burned down and the palace to be attacked. In an instant, thick smoke billowed, covering the sky and the sun, and the shouts of killing reached into the sky.
At that time, there were six regiments of Yanzhou soldiers stationed in the Gyeonggi area, and the relationship with the Forbidden Army was not always good, so Zhaozong ordered the Yanzhou soldiers to be transferred to the palace to assist in defense.
After the Yanzhou Sixth Regiment arrived, Li Jipeng and Wang Xingshi led their men back to Fengxiang and Pizhou respectively. Chang'an City also fell into chaos, and the rebels looted and fought with each other.
Zhaozong was still in shock and heard rumors that Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu were mobilizing an army and wanted to come to Chang'an to greet the emperor in person.
The younger brother couldn't move, so he had to ask the elder brother to come forward.
In order to avoid being hijacked by the Kansai warlords, Zhaozong, his royal family members, and close entourage, under the protection of his personal guards, left Chang'an City, fled into the Qinling Mountains, and arrived at Shimen Town.
Hundreds of thousands of people followed, but one-third of them died of heat stroke. At night, the survivors were looted by bandits again, and the sound of howling resounded throughout the valley. Too miserable.
On July 7, Li Keyong took over Tongzhou and sent someone to present a memorial to greet the emperor's daily life.
Li Keyong's memorial restored some confidence to Zhaozong, and he immediately sent a senior eunuch with an edict to Li Keyong's camp. He ordered Li Keyong and Wang Ke each to send 10,000 cavalry to attack Wang Xingyu; he also issued an edict to Jingzhou Zhang Fan, the envoy of Zhangyi Army, led his troops to contain Fengxiang.
Jingzhou is located between Pizhou and Fengxiang, so Jingzhou sends troops to block the road and isolate Fengxiang and Pizhou from each other.
Li Keyong sent troops to attack Huazhou. Han Jian of the Huazhou Town National Army personally climbed up the city tower and shouted to Li Keyong: "I have nothing to do with the commander-in-chief, and I have always respected the commander-in-chief and have never been disrespectful. Why do you want to attack my city today?"
Li Keyong sent someone to reply: "As a minister, you dare to force the emperor to drive away. If this is not disrespectful, what else in the world is disrespectful?"
Han Jianli was at a loss for words.
Suddenly, news came that Li Maozhen led an army of 30,000 to the west of Chang'an, and Wang Xingyu also led an army to station on the north bank of the Yellow River west of Chang'an, across the river from Li Maozhen. Both of them wanted to snatch the emperor. So Li Keyong lifted the siege of Huazhou and marched towards Chang'an.
The situation was urgent, so Zhaozong sent his prince and personal eunuch Zhang Chengye to Li Keyong's camp to urge him to march quickly and without hesitation. Zhang Chengye had been on several missions to Hedong before and had a deep relationship with Li Keyong. After this mission, he stayed with Li Keyong and became the eunuch overseeing the army in Hedong.
Zhang Chengye was loyal to Li Keyong and actively assisted Li and his son, which will be described in detail later.
In August, Li Keyong sent Shi Yan and led 3,000 Shatuo cavalry to Shimen Town to protect the emperor; he also sent Li Cunxin, Li Cunshen and Li Sixiao, the envoy of the Baoda Army in Yanzhou, to join forces and attack Wang Xingyu.
Li Sixiao, a native of Dangxiang, whose surname was Tuoba, was the younger brother of Tuoba Sigong, the former military governor of Xiazhou Dingnan Army. The members of this party were very similar to Shatuo. They both won meritorious service in various anti-rebellion wars in the Tang Dynasty. Later, they used Xiazhou as their base, continued to grow and develop, and eventually established the Xixia Dynasty, which coexisted with the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains.
Li Keyong's Shatuo Cavalry has always been a cheat-like existence, a meat grinder on the battlefield, and a super MVP. The winning streak is overwhelming.
Fengxiang Li Maozhen was so frightened that he personally beheaded his adopted son Li Jipeng and sent his head to the emperor's palace. Shangshu asked for forgiveness and passed all the blame on the head, saying, "This traitor is the one who committed the crime. I have killed him for your majesty." Sorry, I was lax in discipline, I was wrong, please forgive me." He also sent a letter to Li Keyong asking for peace, saying that everything was just a misunderstanding.
Of course I chose to forgive him.
In the past there were Tian Lingzi and Yang Fugong, and now there is Li Maozhen. Although the heinous crime was unforgivable, Zhaozong decided to treat him leniently and pardon his crime. The truth is as simple as ever. To drive away wolves at the front door, you must also guard against tigers at the back door. If Li Keyong swallows up the Kansai Group in one breath, then Li Keyong will be the next Kansai Group.
The Kansai Group and Li Keyong must be allowed to check each other and the vassal towns have a balance of power, so that Zhaozong can survive through the cracks.
Therefore, Zhaozong issued an order to pardon Li Maozhen and ordered Li Keyong to attack Wang Xingyu.
