Although Li Congke is weak, he has fought with Li Siyuan for many years and has a very high reputation in the army. Many generals in the siege force were his subordinates, such as Yang Siquan and Yin Hui.
Looking back at Li Conghou, his situation was quite similar to when Li Cunxu came to the throne. However, the reason why Li Conghou failed to become Li Cunxu was because he did not have Zhou Dewei around him, but he had the "Rocket Faction".
When the young master ascends the throne, if he wants to consolidate his power, he must have the support of important ministers from the previous dynasty, such as Zhou Dewei, even if it is only nominal support for the young master, such as Yang Shihou during the Zhu Youzhen period.
Even without Zhou Dewei and Yang Shihou, the weak young master can stabilize the emotions of the senior ministers by compromising and giving in. In this case, the worst result is to become a puppet and be ignored by the senior ministers, such as Yang Xingmi's sons.
However, under the hostage of the "Rocket Faction", Li Conghou took the most dangerous and wrong path: openly falling out with his veterans and forcibly snatching away their vested interests. This is seeking death.
In order to consolidate their own interests, during the three months since Li Conghou ascended the throne, the "Rocket Faction" rejected dissidents, opposed party members and dissenters, and made countless enemies. No matter whether civil or military officials or military officers, they all complained, but they still tried to use such an army to fight against The "strength faction" is tough.
The "Rocket Faction" did not get the sincere support of the military at all, and no one was willing to sacrifice their lives for them. So when he sent Hou Yi, the general of the Forbidden Army, to the front line, Hou Yi firmly refused because Hou Yi knew that the "Rocket Faction" could not succeed. Yang Siquan and Yin Hui came, but they switched sides when they came.
Li Congke's general Li Yanqi destroyed his family to relieve the situation and used all his family property to subsidize military expenses. Under his leadership, Li Congke's direct generals donated generously and rewarded the sergeants out of their own pockets. However, the bottomless hole still could not be filled, so Li Congke levied a "city defense tax" on the people in the city, plundered the people, and rewarded the troops who had recently joined him.
According to historical records, Li Congke almost wiped out the ground in Fengxiang. Even the pots and pans from ordinary people's homes were confiscated and rewarded in cash to the sergeants.
It is an ancient custom for the army to ask for rewards. It is said that the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. He wants rewards before setting off, rewards during the march, rewards during the battle, and rewards after the battle... In war, people will die. If you have no money, who will work for you?
Another reason why Li Conghou lost military morale was because he was short of money and did not have enough rewards, so the soldiers were unwilling to sacrifice their lives for him.
Li Congke has been fighting for many years, and he knows that justice and emotion alone cannot control the army. Under the high-sounding rhetoric, there must be real money and silver that is attractive enough. He couldn't afford to wait, so on that day (March 16), Li Congke mobilized his army and marched eastward to attack Chang'an.
"When the cannon goes off, there's ten thousand taels of gold! Brothers, follow me, our slogan is -"
"Robbing money, grabbing food, grabbing women!"
Li Congke's search for Fengxiang made the people of Fengxiang miss Li Jiyu, the son of Li Maozhen, who was kind and generous and loved the people like a son. So they all knelt down outside the city, stopped Li Congke's horse, and begged him to let Li Jizuo return to Fengxiang after he succeeded. Li Congke agreed hastily, "Okay, okay, get out of the way quickly."
When Li Congke took control of Luoyang, he also fulfilled today's promise and ordered Li Jizuo to be the military envoy of Fengxiang.
Previously, Wang Sitong, Yao Yanchou and others fled back from the front line, but Liu Suiyong, the deputy left behind, closed the city gate and refused to accept them. Wang Sitong and Yao Yanchou had no choice but to continue retreating eastward and rushed to the next stronghold: Tongguan.
On the way to the Eastern Expedition, Li Congke was very worried that Wang Sitong and others would defend Chang'an. When he heard the news that Liu Suiyong refused to accept Wang Sitong, he was very happy and immediately sent his confidants to comfort and communicate with him. Liu Suiyong took out gold and silver treasures to reward Li Congke's vanguard troops, and asked them to go east first and continue to pursue Wang Sixing's defeated army.
Liu Suiyong lost money and avoided disaster, Fengxiang's vanguard army did not enter the city, and the people of Chang'an were spared the pain of war.
After Li Congke arrived in Chang'an on the 20th, Liu Sui surrendered to Yongxian City. At this time, all the gold and silver treasures in the treasury had been distributed, and there was no other choice but to plunder the people and reward the army.
Speaking of Liu Suiyong's father, he was very famous at that time. He was a famous general in the Later Liang Dynasty and a "one step at a time" Liu Wei.
On the day Li Congke entered Chang'an, Wang Jingcong, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition Infantry, fled back to Luoyang and reported the military situation of the collapse of the front line. The officials in the court were horrified, and Li Conghou was at a loss.
Li Conghou said to Kang Yicheng: "When the late emperor passed away, I was stationed outside. I didn't want to compete with others for power. It was you, the civil and military officials, ministers and nobles of the Manchu Dynasty who discussed it and insisted on electing me to succeed. Because I was young, I decided to take over. The military and political power has been handed over to all of you here, and everything is decided by you. My brother (Li Congke) and I have always been very harmonious, and look at what you did to me! Now, what do you think we should do?"
Everyone lowered their heads and listened to Li Conghou blaming and complaining.
"Why don't I go to the west to greet my brother in person and give him the throne?" Li Conghou said.
Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun were so frightened that they said nothing. They had heard the emperor's intention, and they clearly wanted to pass the blame to the "Rocket Faction" and use their heads as a sign of sincerity in the peace talks.
Kang Yicheng's performance is more intriguing. At the last meeting, he tried his best to retreat and was unwilling to go to the front line. Instead, he recommended Wang Sitong. Now, his attitude has changed 180 degrees and he volunteered to lead the main force of the Forbidden Army to the front line. .
Kang Yicheng's real plan was to lead the intact Forbidden Army and surrender to Li Congke in an organized manner in order to obtain a greater reward.
Zhu Hongshi's suggestion was the most correct. He advocated that the Forbidden Army should defend Luoyang instead of taking the initiative.
At this last moment, Li Conghou made a fool of himself. He first sent people to kill Li Congke's son Li Chongji, and also killed his daughter Li Youcheng (Master Huiming) who had become a monk.
At that time, Zhu Hongshi and Kang Yicheng argued about military plans and pointed out that Li Congke was in great strength and should not confront Li Congke tit for tat, but should close the city and wait for the situation to change. Obviously, Li Congke, who had no military pay and was unethical, was eager to fight decisively and finish his work in one battle. As long as Luoyang held on, the situation would definitely tilt in favor of Li Conghou.
Zhu Hongshi clung to Zhu Hongzhao, and in the "Tianjin Bridge Incident", he was the first to lead the cavalry to attack Li Congrong, destroying Kang Yicheng's "good deeds". From then on, Kang Yicheng hated Zhu Hongshi deeply. Now, Zhu Hongshi wants to ruin Kang Yicheng's "good deeds" again.
Kang Yicheng was furious and said to Zhu Hongshi, "Do you want to rebel?"
Zhu Hongshi replied: "You obviously want to rebel, but how dare you frame it on me?"
So Li Conghou killed Zhu Hongshi. As a result, Zhu Hongshi's subordinates were filled with resentment.
Li Conghou was ill and rushed to the hospital. He also sent someone to summon Shi Jingtang, who led his army to attack Li Congke.
