Although Shi Jingtang is the commander-in-chief, he is a staunch "peace advocate". He has opposed sending troops from the beginning, and now he is unwilling to patrol at Jianmen Pass. It is easy to be accused of being passive and lazy in fighting, playing with the invaders and not advancing, and supporting the invaders. big hat. Therefore, he was very resistant to An Chongjie's sudden visit, so he kept galloping and playing, exaggerating the difficulties faced by the front line, and tried his best to persuade Li Siyuan to withdraw his troops and stop fighting.
After An Chongjie left the capital, the central government became dominated by the "harem-eunuch alliance". Wang Defei, Meng Hanqiong and others united An Zhongjie's political opponents in the court to exert force within the court, while Shi Jingtang cooperated externally. The two major forces should cooperate internally and externally. , spared no effort to denounce the War between Sichuan and Sichuan and slander An Chongjiao.
Under this situation, Li Siyuan finally wavered and began to consider withdrawing from the quagmire of the two Sichuan provinces, so he took the initiative to release the 1,500 Xichuan soldiers detained in Kuizhou and showed his kindness to Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan, as mentioned above.
An Chongjie knew that once he left the capital, he would inevitably suffer a double blow from both inside and outside, so he had to arrive at Jianmen Pass as quickly as possible to help Shi Jingtang win the battle and reverse the unfavorable battle situation. He traveled day and night and arrived at Fengxiang.
The previous military governor of Fengxiang had always been Li Jiyu, son of Li Maozhen. Before the war between Sichuan and Sichuan, Li Siyuan moved Li Jiyu to the Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou, and left his confidant Zhu Hongzhao in charge of Fengxiang. This wave of operations was probably due to concerns about Li Jizuo's loyalty. Fengxiang, as the land connection point between the Central Plains and Sichuan, had a crucial strategic position.
As a direct descendant of Li Siyuan, Zhu Hongzhao had been suppressed and ostracized by An Zhongjie until he became the deputy envoy of Dongchuan Jiedu, and then fled back to the central government. After returning to the central government, Zhu Hongzhao, who was like a bereaved dog, shrewdly knelt and licked An Chongjie. When An Chongjie and Wang Jianli were at each other's throats in the court, Zhu Hongzhao firmly supported An Chongjie.
From then on, An Chongjie gradually changed his attitude towards Zhu Hongzhao, and began to regard him as his own party member, promoting him and reusing him until he was promoted to the high position of Fengxiang Jiedushi.
This time, An Zhongjie came to Fengxiang ground after a long journey. Zhu Hongzhao personally went out of the city to greet him. He knelt down in front of An Zhongjie's horse to welcome An Zhongjie to come and guide his work.
That night, Zhu Hongzhao invited An Chongjie to his humble residence and led him to the inner room. His wife and children all surrounded An Chongjie and kowtowed to him. The family was respectful, served the best wine and the best dishes, and entertained him warmly. Promote your benefactor.
The icing on the cake is not as good as providing timely assistance. An Chongjie was tortured by the political struggle and was in great embarrassment. This trip to the west seemed like he was in trouble. Zhu Hongzhao's respectful and cautious words moved An Chongjie very much.
Moved, An Zhongjie couldn't help but burst into tears and said some heartfelt words to Zhu Hongzhao, "The treacherous ministers in the court framed me again and again and pursued me. I couldn't resist, and my life was almost hanging by a thread. Fortunately, The emperor was aware of everything and remained unmoved, thus saving the lives of the whole family."
The two of them lamented, crying and drinking.
After a short rest, An Zhongjie was on his way again. His time was precious and he couldn't afford to waste it.
Zhu Hongzhao respectfully sent An Chongjie on his way again.
As soon as An Chongjie left, Zhu Hongzhao wrote two letters. One was sent to the court, saying that An Chongjie was full of complaints and bad words to the court and His Majesty. He could not be sent to the front line, otherwise he would seize the stone Jingtang. The consequences would be disastrous; another letter was sent to Shi Jingtang at high speed, and the message in the letter was even more frightening: An Chongjie is acting erratically, for fear that the soldiers on the front line will be fearful and suspicious, so it is best to stop them head-on to avoid triggering a mutiny. !
Shi Jingtang was horrified when he received the secret message, and hurriedly went to the emissary, saying that the frontline officers were frightened when they heard that An Zhongjie was coming to supervise the war. The army was in danger of losing control at any time. Please ask your Majesty to order him to return to the capital immediately and never come to the frontline. !
Meng Hanqiong, the eunuch in the central government, also seized this opportunity to accuse An Chongjie of various faults.
The central, local and frontline "anti-security" forces jointly exerted their efforts. Li Siyuan finally could not withstand the pressure and issued an edict ordering An Chongjie to cancel the original plan and return to Beijing immediately.
An Chongjiao received the edict halfway (Sanquan), so he immediately turned his horse around and returned to the original route.
Sanquan is a very interesting place. From the beginning to the end of Li Cunxu's battle to destroy Shu, the two sides only fought a small-scale battle, and the location was Sanquan. Now, An Chongjie, who initiated the war against Shu, also turned back here. Sanquan became the turning point of the two Sichuan-Sichuan wars.
When An Chongjie passed by Fengxiang, Zhu Hongzhao changed his attitude and refused him to enter the city. Only then did An Chongjie realize the seriousness of the matter and hurriedly rode eastward.
Before he could rush back to the capital, he received the latest order: after careful organizational study, it was decided that Comrade An Chongjiao, the envoy of the Privy Council, the prefect of the Shou, and the deputy secretary of the Central Committee, would serve as the grand master of the school and the deputy secretary of the Central Committee. He was ordered to serve as the governor of the river, and he was granted the title of Duke of Yi.
Knock on the blackboard and mark the key points: the privy envoy was changed to the Hezhong Jiedushi envoy.
An Chongjie no longer came to the central government, but went directly to Hezhong to take up his post.
This was an even more dangerous signal. After leaving the central court, An Chonghui didn't even have a chance to fight back when he was attacked by his political opponents. Just like in the ring, even if the opponent is strong, the boxer can at least fight hard and die with honor. But now, An Zhongjie is tied up, blindfolded, and allowed to be beaten by his opponent.
Prime Minister Zhao Feng interceded for An Zhongjie and told Li Siyuan that An Zhongjie had followed His Majesty for decades and was very loyal. He was framed because of his rude personality and reckless behavior. If Your Majesty just sat back and did nothing, An Zhongjie would soon be killed. Died unjustly.
Li Siyuan believed that Zhao Feng was partial to him because he was promoted by An Zhongjie, and he was unhappy. He was put off by a few words.
Wang Defei and the eunuch Meng Hanqiong persecuted An Zhongjiao in order to compete for his power; Shi Jingtang also wanted to pass the blame to An Zhongjiao in order to clear himself of the blame for the defeat; the duplicitous Zhu Hongzhao wanted to get a bowl of leftovers from the political struggle. Geng Lengzhi also made trouble for An Zhong's teachings; Li Congke also wanted to join the "anti-An" alliance in order to save his life; other people who were excluded by An Zhong's teachings also wanted to beat up the fallen dogs and let out a bad breath...
Now An Zhongjie is more miserable than all the powerful officials who have lost power in the past. Almost overnight, there are people inside and outside the court who want to kill him. He has single-handedly completed the unity of the political circle and become a public enemy. .
Does An Chongjie have any friends in the central court? Feng Dao, Zhao Feng?
No. Although Feng Dao and Zhao Feng had spoken for An Zhongjie many times and were even used as shotguns by An Zhongjie, they were not "An Party members" and did not belong to any political faction. Their belief is loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, they are honest and honest, noble and arrogant, and they do not care about people. Although they are promoted by An Zhongjie, they will not lose their faith because of this. They never kneel to power, are not afraid of power, and certainly will not add insult to injury.
They defended An Zhongjie before because it was really a false accusation and slander. What they were protecting was not An Zhongjie, but justice and law.
Under the joint stranglehold of multiple forces, An Zhongjie was doomed.
