Li Maozhen paid a heavy price for his rashness.
His attack has a strong gambling nature. If Ma Jing did not lie, then Li Maozhen will severely damage Zhu Wen, thereby gaining long-term stability in the Kansai region. If Li Maozhen had been more cautious, consolidated the strategic depth in the west and south first, and allowed Zhu and Wen to "withdraw troops", then the Kansai region would have faced the threat of Zhu and Wen for a long time.
Li Maozhen's situation was over and he had to put surrender on the agenda. Since Zhu Wen claimed to be here to greet Zhaozong, Li Maozhen agreed to send Zhaozong back to Chang'an to clear himself of the crime of "hijacking the emperor."
Welcoming Zhaozong without competing for territory with Li Maozhen was Zhu Wen's slogan, and this slogan was based on the premise that Li Maozhen had a large number of troops. Now, Li Maozhen's vitality is severely damaged and his troops are almost completely wiped out. What qualifications does he have to bargain with Zhu Wen?
Zhu Wen used the "centipede trench" to besiege Fengxiang, that is, he dug curved and spiral trenches outside the city, erected barbed wire, hung copper bells on the barbed wire, and deployed military dogs. This kind of fortification was very practical and is still used today.
Under this situation, Li Maozhen's power gradually collapsed, and his subordinates either surrendered to Wang Jian of Xichuan or surrendered to Zhu Wen. Among them, Li Maozhen's adopted sons Li Yanxun and Li Yantao rose up before the battle and left the city to surrender to Zhu Wen.
Zhu Wen sent Sima Ye into the city with the memorial. Sima Ye was originally a stayer of the Kuangguo Army in Tongzhou. He voluntarily surrendered when Zhu Wen marched westward, and helped Zhu Wen persuade Han Jian, the military governor of Huazhou Town, to surrender. He had high ideological and political awareness and eloquence.
Subsequently, Zhu Wen continued to contribute food, silk and other materials to the city to honor Zhaozong.
Zhaozong always sent the package intact to Li Maozhen and asked him to inspect it. Zhaozong had extensive experience of being kidnapped and placed under house arrest. This move was to prove his innocence to the caretakers and avoid suspicion.
But Li Maozhen knew that his power was no longer what it used to be, and he no longer dared to be so wild and unruly, and he did not dare to "inspect the goods" again, and released them all without inspection to prove that he had never "under house arrest" the emperor.
A few days later, Zhu and Wen sent envoys to formally discuss reconciliation matters, agreed to a temporary ceasefire, and agreed that the people would go out to cut firewood and pick vegetables, and the Bian army would no longer obstruct or plunder them.
Zhu Wen claimed that he had repaired the palace and was ready to welcome the Holy Emperor back. Zhaozong also sent senior officials to return the visit.
But Li Maozhen was still unwilling to fail, and he tried to save it again. During the ceasefire agreement, Li Maozhen suddenly sent troops to attack the Bian Army in the west of the city, and was defeated again.
Zhu Wen allowed the people in the city to go out of the city to seek life. On the one hand, it was out of political perspective and to show that he was a gentleman who put humanitarianism first; on the other hand, he also dug a hole for Li Maozhen. Zhu Wen ordered the surrendered officials to put on red official robes (official uniforms of the fourth and fifth grades) and return to the city. He called on the people in the city to surrender. When they reached the arms of the Bian army, some people came out of the city at night.
Li Maozhen was furious and continued to harass the Bian Army camp, but was defeated repeatedly. The morale of the army was on the verge of collapse. But he still has a glimmer of hope, and that is his cousin-Li Maoxun.
On November 1, Li Maoxun, the envoy of the Baoda Army in Yanzhou, once again led more than 10,000 troops to reinforce Fengxiang and stationed himself on the top of the hillside in the north of the city. He lit beacon fires with the defenders in response to the distant situation.
Zhu Wen surrounded the area and sent for reinforcements. He left the more than 10,000 people alone and ordered Kong Qing to directly raid Li Maoxun's lair and attack Yanzhou and Fangzhou.
In just three days, the two states fell one after another. In this battle, Kong Qing left a good story about "going to Yanzhou on a snowy night".
After taking Yanzhou, Kong Qing ordered the protection of the families of Li Maoxun and his generals. The social order in the city was orderly and the people lived without any harassment. Later, Li Maoxun's family was moved to the river.
After Li Maoxun learned the news, he led his army to escape.
Without the last support, Li Maozhen was really trapped in the isolated city. The Bian army beat drums and trumpets outside the city every night. The sound was so loud that the defenders in the city were not allowed to rest and were very exhausted.
During the day, soldiers on both sides carried out monotonous and boring scoldings, and the words were also very simple. The Bian army called the Qi army "thieves who robbed the emperor", and the Qi army called the Bian army "thieves who robbed the emperor."
The Bian army cut all the wild grass outside the city. Not to mention food and vegetables, not even grass was left.
There was an extreme shortage of food and grass in the city. It was the middle of winter, and countless soldiers and civilians died of cold and starvation in the city. Some hungry people lay on the bed and groaned weakly. Before they died, other hungry people used knives to cut off their flesh and devour them. Vendors selling human meat have also appeared in the market, and the price is 100 yuan per catty. At the same time, dog meat is 500 yuan per catty, and the common people are inferior to dogs.
Li Maozhen had to use dog meat to supply Zhaozong's diet. He couldn't let the emperor eat people.
The clothes of Zhaozong and the young prince were also sold in the market to exchange for money to buy food; soaked pine cones or persimmon peels were used as fodder to feed the emperor's royal horses.
Li Maozhen increased the number of troops guarding the palace, which was called guards, but actually looked after them. He was not looking after Zhaozong, but the eunuchs, because they were the final bargaining chips in the negotiations between Li Maozhen and Zhu Wen, and they were chess pieces to be given up at the right time.
Under the increasingly severe situation, serious divisions occurred within the eunuchs, and they began to resent Han Quanhui and others.
In order to protect themselves, the eunuchs began to recommend Han Xie as prime minister. Han Xi was upright and strong, neither submitting to the eunuchs nor collaborating with Cui Yin and other civil servant forces. The most important point was that Han Xi strongly opposed Cui Yin's idea of "killing all the eunuchs." So the eunuchs began to work up and down, making Han Xie the prime minister.
Prime Minister Su Jian sent his cronies to reveal this idea to Han Xie and test his intentions. Han Xie was furious. He first criticized Su Jian and others for having "bad origins", then accused them of being a vegetarian. Finally, he pointedly pointed out that nowadays "prime minister" is a high-risk profession, and he is likely to be regarded as a victim of the "Qibian struggle for supremacy." Now you Your life is in jeopardy, and you still want to use me as your back-up? Damn mom—grandma! improper.
At this time, Li Maoxun, who was desperate, sent an envoy to surrender to Zhu Wen and changed his name to Li Zhouyi. We will use "Li Maoxun" below.
At this point, all the prefectures and counties south of the Qinling Mountains by Li Maozhen surrendered to Wang Jian; all the prefectures and counties in Guanzhong surrendered to Zhu Wen.
Li Maozhen was left alone in the isolated city of Fengxiang and was helpless. He had to appeal to Zhu Wen for peace again. This time, he would vote for the eunuch party.
In a letter to Zhu Wen, Li Maozhen emphasized that this disaster was all caused by Han Quanjie and other eunuchs, and the reason why the emperor was taken to Fengxiang was entirely out of consideration for protecting the emperor's safety, and was by no means a threat to the emperor. Since you want to help the country and welcome back the Holy Emperor, I have troubled you to come all the way. I am willing to lead the few remaining defeated soldiers around me and serve you on horseback and on horseback.
What he said was very tactful and beautiful, and translated into one sentence: I surrendered.
Zhu Wen's reply was also very grand, to the effect of saying: I am here to greet the emperor. It would be great if you could work together with me. We all serve the people.
After receiving Zhu Wen's promise of reconciliation, Emperor Zhaozong had dinner with Li Maozhen, Su Jian, Zhou Chengjie, Dong Yanbi and other major leaders to discuss reconciliation matters.
At the banquet, Zhaozong broke the theme and said: "Princes and below are freezing and starving to death every day. Even the princes, princesses, and concubines in the palace can only live on gruel. Now even gruel is provided No, my dear friends, do you have any opinions?"
Everyone was speechless and silent.
Zhaozong nodded, "I think we should reconcile as soon as possible."
A dozen Fengxiang soldiers stopped the eunuch Han Quanhui outside the palace and cursed him, saying that our lives in Fengxiang were in ruins and the soldiers and civilians in the city were dying of cold and starvation, all because of you eunuchs! Han Quanhui was so frightened that he ran to Li Maozhen and cried.
Li Maozhen comforted Han Quanhui, "What do these uneducated soldiers know?" He ordered someone to pour two glasses of wine to calm Han Quanhui's shock.
Han Quanhui kowtowed to Zhaozong again and cried. Zhaozong also comforted him with kind words.
After turning around and going out, Li Maozhen's adopted son Li Jizhao stopped Han Quanhui and said to him: "In the past, Yang Fugong killed Yang Shouliang's family. Today, do you also want to kill my Li Jizhao family?" Then he cursed Han Quanhui loudly. , he went out of the city and surrendered to Zhu Wen, took away the word "Ji" and restored his original name of "Fu Daozhao".
During the "Destroy Yang Movement", Yang Fugong fled to Yang Shouliang's Xingyuan Mansion to seek asylum. In the end, both Yang Shouliang and Yang Fugong were wiped out. Li Jizhao used Yang Fugong's allusion to express the true feelings within the Li Maozhen Group.
Who is Li Maozhen? He will never be the second Yang Shouliang.
