【Luzhou rebels again】
He planned to flee northward, beyond the Great Wall, to seek asylum from the Khitan people.
At this time, the Later Tang Dynasty court sent condolence and pardon edicts to various military towns and roads. At the same time, it also attached an invitation letter to Li Jitao, inviting him to come to Beijing for tea. Li Cunxu wanted to resolve the past feud with him face to face.
Li Jitao packed his luggage and prepared to enter Beijing. His younger brother Li Jiyuan hurriedly stopped him, "Brother, we are traitors, don't you have any ideas in your heart? Whether you follow the order and go, or refuse the order, the result will be the same. It's better to dig a deep trench and Build a high wall, we have more food than we can eat for years, so we might as well separatize Luzhou, delaying time and waiting for the situation to change. As soon as you arrive in the capital, you will die immediately, believe it or not?"
However, Li Jitao's staff advised him not to hesitate, because his father Li Sizhao had made great contributions to the country. In terms of seniority, he was the nephew of Emperor Li Cunxu, and Li Cunxu was eager to show his broad mind to the world and would not harm him.
The butt determines the head. Li Jitao was not a war fanatic. Mutiny was not his goal, and fighting against the central government was not his goal. Consolidating Luzhou's vested interests was his goal. Therefore, after some weighing, Li Jitao finally decided to take the risk and go to Beijing for an audience.
As expected, Li Cunxu accepted Li Jitao very generously. He often took him out hunting and attending banquets with him, and they remained as close as ever.
At the beginning of Li Jitao's rebellion, Li Cunxu sent his younger brother Li Cunwo to persuade him. At that time, Li Jitao was arrogant and rude, and even almost killed Li Cunwo. Li Cunwo could not let go and kept urging Li Cunxu to kill this rebellious son to avoid future troubles. He also repeatedly reprimanded and insulted Li Jitao in public.
Li Jitao, who was living under the fence and relying on others, could only listen attentively. He was frightened and uneasy, fearing that something might happen to him, so he asked Li Cunxu to let him return to town.
Li Cunxu did not agree, "Nephew, uncle, I miss you, please stay for a few more days." Although he was not killed, he was still detained indefinitely and placed under house arrest.
Li Jitao became increasingly frightened and uneasy. So, he sent someone to send a secret message to Li Jiyuan, and the general idea was to ask him to sing a double act: launch a fake mutiny in Luzhou, let the soldiers set fire to the city and cause chaos, and then persuade Li Cunxu to let him go back to appease him.
Unexpectedly, the messenger was intercepted by patrols, and the secret message was presented to Li Cunxu.
Li Cunxu was furious and ordered Li Jitao to be demoted as the governor of Deng. The old rule is to save travel expenses to Dengzhou and "find and kill under the bridge in Tianjin". Also killed were Li Jitao's two sons, who were sent to Bianzhou as hostages when Li Jitao rebelled against the Jin and surrendered to Liang.
"You two grandsons!"
Li Cunxu gently patted the backs of his two grandsons and said lovingly: "You can help your father rebel at such a young age. How can you help him when he grows up?" (You are young, but you can still help him) If the father rebels, why should he be reunited?)
He also sent envoys to Luzhou to order Li Jiyuan to be executed. Afterwards, Li Jichou was rescued from imprisonment, and Li Cunxu appointed him as the temporary governor of Luzhou and asked him to go to Beijing for an audience.
Li Jichang finally ushered in the spring and became the master, but his subsequent performance was shocking: he couldn't wait to occupy Li Jitao's wife, ransacked the house, snatched concubines, and property... It didn't look like oppressed politics. It is more like ruthless bandits robbing wealthy landowners. Greedy and obscene, he was so busy with the robbery work that he delayed his arrival in Beijing.
Delaying his entry into Beijing was a very dangerous move, as he would easily suffer the emperor's suspicion. Moreover, he was still a guilty person, challenging Li Cunxu's bottom line at a critical moment when he urgently needed Li Cunxu's trust.
His younger brother Li Jida was extremely sad and angry, and angrily said: "Four of our father, son and brothers were killed. You, the eldest brother, don't care about any kinship. You are so greedy, ruthless and debauched that it is outrageous! How can I have an eldest brother like you?" It’s such a shame and humiliation, I really don’t have the face to see anyone, I’d rather die than live!”
Later, Li Jida, dressed in mourning clothes, led a hundred of his personal cavalry and rushed straight to the gate of the headquarters. While shouting loudly, "Who wants to rebel with me?" he launched an attack on the headquarters and killed Li Jichen.
After Li Jike, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, received the news of the mutiny, he immediately fled to the streets, summoned his personal guards, and quickly gathered a thousand people, and then attacked Li Jida's rebels.
Li Jida was outnumbered and saw that the situation was over, so he returned home, hacked his wife and children to death, and then led his troops to break out and flee, planning to defect to Khitan. Just a few miles out of the city, the troops dispersed, leaving Li Jida alone. In anger and despair, Li Jida cut his neck and committed suicide.
Coinciding with the Khitan's southern invasion, the imperial court recruited 3,000 Luzhou soldiers to garrison Zhuozhou. A general in Luzhou took the opportunity to instigate a mutiny.
This general's name was Yang Li, who was deeply trusted by Li Jitao and supported him very much. However, Yang Li's rebellion cannot be regarded as revenge for his old master. Li Jitao was the backer of Yang Li's promotion and fortune. After Li Jitao's death, neither Li Jichou, Li Jida nor Li Jike would promote Yang Li like Li Jitao did. Yang Li was very disappointed, so he hoped to use turmoil to achieve a class jump.
By the way, there was a criminal case in Luzhou at that time. A young man committed murder because of a dispute with someone. Li Jitao saw that the murderer had good appearance and amazing bones. He was very impressed and thought that he would definitely do something big in the future. , so he used his authority to release him.
This murderer's name is Guo Wei.
Although Li Jitao was capricious, he was ambitious and knew the importance of talents, so he treated his subordinates and heroes well. This is not even true for a murderer whom he has never met, let alone the brave general Yang Li.
After receiving the order from the imperial court, Yang Li, who was afraid that the world would be in chaos, sensed an opportunity. He fanned the flames in the army, saying that our Luzhou soldiers had never been stationed on the frontier. The imperial court sent us to the frontier today because of Li Jitao's rebellion. Sergeant Luzhou was worried. Firstly, he wanted to disintegrate and disperse our armed forces, and secondly, he wanted us to be used as cannon fodder. Rather than being killed by the Khitans thousands of miles away, it is better to protect your homeland. If you succeed, you can still enjoy the glory and wealth. Even if you don't succeed, you can fall into trouble and at least save your life!
After some agitation, the soldiers in Luzhou became angry and shouted loudly, expressing their willingness to obey his leadership. So Yang Li led the crowd to set fire to cause chaos, plundered the market, and attacked the headquarters government office.
Jiedu's deputy envoy Li Jike and the eunuch Zhang Hongzuo abandoned the city and fled. Yang Li then took control of Luzhou, claimed that he would stay, and reported to the imperial court, requesting a formal appointment.
It's Luzhou again, is it over yet? Li Cunxu was so upset that he issued an edict to let Li Siyuan take command to quell the rebellion, and Yuan Xingqin and Zhang Tingyun took over. Therefore, when Li Siyuan took command to resist the Khitan, he also worked overtime and took command of Luzhou to quell the internal troubles.
Li Siyuan is like a human being, it only takes three days to destroy Liang, let alone the unknown Yang Li. Li Siyuan only spent half a day.
Led by Zhang Tingyun, more than a hundred members of the vanguard arrived at the foot of Luzhou City in the evening. They climbed over the ditch, climbed the city wall, and controlled the city gate at night. The entire set of actions was performed smoothly and in one go. With only a hundred men, Luzhou was captured. Even Li Siyuan was jealous of Zhang Tingyun.
Yang Li and his accomplices were sent to the capital to be quartered and executed.
The high walls and deep ditches in Luzhou were also ordered to be razed by Li Cunxu to prevent further rebellion based on the separatist rule of the city. At the same time, he ordered the whole country not to build any more cities from now on, and all the original city defenses were destroyed.
