A few days later, in the morning court, all civil and military officials stood in line, waiting for the imperial edict, but unexpectedly found that there was no edict, and all the officials looked at each other in confusion. Suddenly, the eunuchs made a collective noise and roared: "Han Xie refused to write the edict!" All the officials trembled, thinking that something had happened in the court, they all broke out in cold sweat and did not dare to say a word.
Li Maozhen said loudly: "His Majesty appointed the prime minister, and Han Xie dared to resist and refuse to write the edict. How is it different from treason and rebellion?"
Zhaozong was leaning towards Han Xi in his heart, so he said: "I have no objection to your recommendation of Wei Yifan; I have no objection to the Hanlin scholar's refusal to draft the edict. Besides, Han Xi has explained it clearly in the memorial. What's wrong with it?"
Li Maozhen was speechless. After the dynasty was dismissed, he came to the prime minister's office and said to Prime Minister Su Jian: "The treacherous villains formed a clique for personal gain, and it is still the same as before!" The thief shouted to catch the thief, and sighed for a long time.
Li Maozhen felt that he was very shameless, but Wei Yifan continued to work shamelessly, hoping to continue to make a comeback through Li Maozhen's way. Li Maozhen was extremely bored and asked his people to give him a message: "I don't understand the red tape of you bunch of literati, which makes me look embarrassed. See if I don't take the opportunity to relocate Wei Yifan to Pizhou!" Wei Yifan then switched to another job. At the door, he used his strength towards the eunuch.
That month, Wei Yifan indeed cleared all the links, and with the strong support of the eunuchs, he became prime minister again. This time it was Yao Jie who wrote the edict.
According to custom, when the emperor appoints a prime minister, the prime minister should decline modestly, saying that he is not qualified for the job due to his lack of knowledge and moral prestige. Only with the persistence of the ministers and the emperor can he accept the appointment.
However, Wei Yifan bypassed these hypocritical and polite formalisms. After receiving the imperial edict, he immediately went to express his gratitude and hurried to his post the next day.
That day was August 27th. Just over two months later, on November 14, Prime Minister Wei Yifan died in Fengxiang, the seat of the temporary imperial court, due to ineffective treatment. A cheeky elegy over his short career.
During Wei Yifan's short period of worry about Ding Mu, he recommended two candidates to the court to take over the position, Yao Jie and Su Jian, and these two were also inclined to the eunuch power and Li Maozhen.
In the face of the huge temptation, Yao Jie still managed to keep a clear mind and understood how much he weighed. He also knew that the "prime minister" at this time was a puppet controlled by others just like the helpless Emperor Zhaozong. And you must always be prepared to take the blame, which usually ends badly. So Yao Ji first asked Han Xi for his opinion.
Han Wei bluntly told him that it was best not to accept the appointment, and reminded him not to forget that his whole family was in Chang'an and under Zhu Wen's control, and Zhu Wen's army was about to encircle Fengxiang. The eunuchs and The Kansai Group is very precarious, what if... right, you should consider it carefully.
Therefore, Yao Ji claimed that he was ill and was unable to serve as prime minister.
Subsequently, Su Jian was appointed prime minister.
【Siege of Fengxiang】
After Zhu Wen rescued Taiyuan, he rested in the river. Prime Minister Cui Yin personally rushed to the river to urge Zhu Wen to attack Fengxiang. He tearfully complained to Zhu Wen about all the despicable and disobedient behaviors of the eunuchs. He also claimed that Li Maozhen had conspired to kidnap the emperor to Shu, and he earnestly advised Zhu Wen to besiege Fengxiang as soon as possible.
Shu, Wang Jian's territory, has never been Li Maozhen's sphere of influence. Not only that, Wang Jian also eroded all Li Maozhen's territory in Shannan. The theory that Li Maozhen kidnapped Zhaozong and entered Shu was obviously a rumor fabricated by Cui Yin out of thin air. Zhu Wen refused to criticize this, because he also needed this kind of rumor to provide a public opinion basis for his march into Fengxiang.
Zhu Wen held a banquet and entertained Cui Yin warmly. He once again solemnly declared: I would rather teach the people of the world to betray me than teach me to betray the people of the world. For the sake of the safety of the empire, I, Zhu Wen, am willing to look down upon thousands of people and serve the people. Let's go to war immediately!
Cui Yin was extremely excited. The imperial prime minister personally went out of the city to Weiqiao to meet Gao Ying. He also personally held a glass of wine for Zhu Wen to celebrate his birthday. He also personally sang for Zhu Wen on the board and sang praises for Zhu Wen. The lyrics were also Cui Yin wrote it himself. He is humble and servile, trying his best to flatter and lick the anus.
Bian general Kang Huaizhen led the vanguard army to Fengxiang and defeated Li Jizhao.
Fengxiang's soldiers and civilians were frightened, so Li Maozhen moved all the residents outside the city into the city, preparing for a long-term war of attrition.
In June, Zhu Wen led 50,000 elite troops to Guo County (today's Baoji City, Shaanxi Province) south of Fengxiang Prefecture. Li Maozhen concentrated all his troops and launched a fierce attack on Zhu Wen, intending to strike first and wait for the enemy to take a breath before striking him head-on, so that Zhu Wen would retreat. Unexpectedly, he was defeated by Zhu Wen again and more than 10,000 people were killed.
Subsequently, Zhu Wen sent Kong Qing to take advantage of the victory and attack, detouring southward to Dashan Pass and conquering Fengzhou, and then went west to conquer Chengzhou and Longzhou, completing the "semi-encirclement" of Fengxiang Prefecture.
Fengzhou and Chengzhou, to the southwest of Fengxiang Mansion, are the strategic depth of Fengxiang's power, while Longzhou is located to the northwest of Fengxiang Mansion, blocking Guguan, a strategic location to the west of Fengxiang Mansion.
It is clear at a glance on the map: the Wei River is a natural barrier from west to east; on the north bank of the Wei River, from west to east are Qinzhou, Longshan, Longzhou and Fengxiang Prefecture. Longshan runs north-south, with a gap left in the south of the middle. This gap is the old pass. Qinzhou reinforced Fengxiang and Fengxiang withdrew from Qinzhou to the west, but they were all blocked by Guguan, which was under the strict supervision of Longzhou.
Now, Longzhou is controlled by Zhu Wen, which is equivalent to cutting off the lifeline to the west of Fengxiang, and Dashan Pass in the south has also been controlled by Zhu Wen.
Pizhou in the northeast had already surrendered to Zhu Wen, and Fengxiang was in danger.
Zhu Wen personally led the army to the city, changed into official official uniforms, cried bitterly in front of the city tower, and told the reason why he violated the army with soldiers, emphasizing that he was only welcoming the emperor's sage back to the capital, not competing with Qi Wang Li Maozhen. At the same time, five camps were built around Fengxiang and the siege began.
Li Maozhen's cousin, Li Maoxun, the governor of Baoda in Yanzhou, led his troops to reinforce Fengxiang and stationed in Sanyuan. Zhu Wen sent Kang Huaizhen and Kong Qing to retreat in a battle.
Li Maozhen mobilized his troops to launch a night attack and was defeated. After resting, he mobilized the entire army to launch a counterattack against Zhu Wen. They fought fiercely for a day but could not win. In the evening, when Li Maozhen retreated, the Bian army followed closely and almost captured the west gate.
From then on, Li Maozhen did not dare to take the initiative to leave the city, and huddled inside the city.
The autumn rains continued, and the old problems of shortage of food and grass supply and prevalence of diseases once again troubled Zhu Wen, which made Zhu Wen once again have the idea of retreating.
After witnessing countless sieges, we finally understood that the best reinforcements for a defender are bad weather and plague.
At the military meeting to discuss withdrawing troops, two generals strongly opposed it. They were Gao Jichang and Liu Zhijun. They said that Fengxiang's battle was of great importance and would hinder the world's view! Now, the whole world is staring at Fengxiang, and the result of the battle directly affects their political stance. The Bian army can only win but cannot fail.
Liu Zhijun was a surrendered general during Zhu Wen's eastern campaign against Xuzhou. He was brave and resourceful. It was precisely because of his intelligence and courage that he was jealous of Shi Pu, so he abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side.
Gao Jichang, let alone an outsider, was Zhu Wen's godson. He was originally a slave of Li Rang, a wealthy businessman in Bianzhou. When Zhu Wen first took control of Bian, he was short of major generals, food and pay. The "enlightened gentleman" Li Rang donated his money to help Zhu Wen overcome the initial predicament, so he was adopted by Zhu Wen as his adopted son. Name him Zhu Yourang. Later, Zhu Wen discovered an extraordinary-looking man among Zhu Yourang's slaves. His speech and behavior were also different from ordinary people, so he ordered Zhu Yourang to adopt him as his adopted son. This man was Gao Jichang. Therefore, Gao Jichang is the godson of Zhu Wen's godson and a serious godson. This grandson is not ordinary, he will also be destined to be the king of the land in the future.
Gao Jichang revealed Zhu Wen's concerns with one word. It was just that Li Maozhen couldn't hold on, so he only needed to use a little trick to lure the snake out of the hole.
The truth is this, but how can we make Li Maozhen, an old fox, be fooled?
Gao Jichang recruited dead soldiers in the army. Under the heavy reward, there must be a brave man, and the cavalry horse Jing signed up.
Before leaving, Ma Jing explained the funeral arrangements, saying that he knew that he belonged to the "death world" and could not come back alive. He only asked the King of Liang to fulfill his promise and treat his wife, children and children well.
With tears in his eyes, Zhu Wen held Ma Jing's hands, lamented his loyalty, and offered to stay, not wanting him to die.
Ma Jing regarded death as home and insisted on going.
At that time, Zhu Wen had ordered his nephew Zhu Youlun to send reinforcements from Bianzhou and calculated their itinerary, which should arrive the next day. So Ma Jing took advantage of this opportunity to "defect."
On that day, Zhu Wen ordered to feed the war horses, reward the three armies with beef and wine, eat and drink well, and prepare to risk their lives.
In the early morning of the next day, the Bian Army camp put away its flags, and the entire army was in ambush. They were not allowed to move around at will. The entire military camp looked deserted.
Ma Jing mingled with the team that was waiting for Zhu Youlun, and marched slowly. After leaving the camp, he suddenly turned his horse's head and ran towards Fengxiang city gate at the risk of his life, "surrendering" to Fengxiang.
After entering the city, Ma Jing said that he had to meet Li Maozhen in person to reveal important information. Li Maozhen met him, and Ma Jing reported that Zhu and Wen's main troops had all withdrawn overnight due to the lack of food and grass and the rampant plague, leaving only less than 10,000 old, weak, sick and disabled guarding the military camp, and these 10,000 people would also be gone today. Wan left quietly, this opportunity is not to be missed, please pursue him as soon as possible!
Li Maozhen then sent troops to look out and investigate, and found that the Bian camp was empty, and also detected the retreat of the main force of the Bian army (actually to welcome Zhu Youlun's reinforcements), so he was overjoyed and thought it was a God-given opportunity, so he quickly dispatched all his troops to pursue the Bian army.
There is no suspense, Li Maozhen was ambushed and almost the entire army was wiped out.
