Luoyang, Ziwei City, the rising sun, the returning delegations from the eighteen states in Longyou, Hexi came from Tongguan.
Along the way, Huazhou Zhenguo Army, Tongzhou Kuangguo Army, Hezhong Protector Army, Shaanzhou Baoyi Army, etc., wherever the envoy passed through the Jiedushi territory, each town army sent their own soldiers to escort them.
By the time they arrived in Luoyang, the entire mission already numbered more than 3,000 people.
This grand and sacred capital, which had just experienced Zhang Congbin's rebellion and was surrounded by green fields, became noisy again today.
In addition to the returning missions from the Eighteen Prefectures to the rebel army, heroes and literati from all over the country, some of whose families had been lost in Anxi and Hexi, and even descendants of the king's army who had been camped in Anxi, came.
Song Tongyi, together with these Central Plains heroes who were inspired by loyalty, worshiped Tang Gaozu Emperor Li Zhi and Zetian Great Sage Tianhou Wu Zhao outside Ziwei City in Luoyang in the morning. In the afternoon, they also worshiped Zhuangzong and Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty.
In June, after more than three months, the returning mission from the Eighteen Prefectures in Longyou, Hexi Province, finally arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty.
More than 3,000 people came with the Guiyi Army, and with the Guiyi Army envoys, the number reached 4,000.
Throughout the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Hungarians and Hungarians in the world were conquering each other. The glory of the warriors was lost, the literati were disgraced, the common people were uneasy, and everyone was in danger.
Therefore, there has never been such a moment in this era that makes people feel so full of righteousness and glory.
Waves of noises came from Chaoyang Gate in the east. It turned out that they were descendants of Yang Xiuming, the former Hexi Jiedu envoy. They came here specially after hearing that the returning delegation from Longyou, Hexi Province had arrived in Luoyang.
Yang Xiuming was born in the Yang family branch of Hongnong. Everyone thought that these families had long ceased to exist, but they did not expect that there were still descendants.
After a while, more than ten people came riding like a whirlwind. It turned out that they were descendants of the Yan family in Taiyuan, Hedong.
The Yan family in Taiyuan lasted until the Republic of China. The Yan family in Shanxi Wenning and the Yan family in Guangdong and Guangxi were all branched off from here.
The final climax was when more than ten silver sword officers in brocade robes surrounded a thin man and entered Tokyo.
"Isn't this Guo Shaoqing?" Someone recognized the person.
Shaoqing is not a name, but an official position. This person is Guo Zaihui, the fifth grandson of Guo Ziyi, King of Fenyang in the Tang Dynasty, the last Jiedushi of the Four Towns of Anxi, the nephew of Guo Xin, the king of Wuwei County, and the Shaoqing of the Weiwei of the Later Tang Dynasty.
After the last emperor entered Luoyang, he moved to Jinling. His descendants were all officials in the Tang State in Huainan, and now they actually came from the Tang State.
As agreed, the two parties met outside Daning Palace.
Guo Tiance, a descendant of Guo Xin, the king of Wuwei County, and the secretary-general of the Hexi Longyou Jiedu Ambassador, tremblingly called his uncle, and then handed over the Guo Xin shrine that had been kept by the Suiye Guo family to Guo Zaihui.
"One hundred and thirty years! My great-uncle's throne has finally returned here. The Guo family's ancestral hall has been moved to Luling Magang. My great-uncle must have endless things to say with King Zhongwu (Guo Ziyi) when he gets there! "
Guo Zaihui cried softly for a few times, and then handed over the other side to Guo Tiance, which was engraved with Guo Gongxin, the Jiedushi of the Four Towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty and the Prince of Wuwei County.
"This is the great-uncle's shrine in the ancestral hall. It will be handed over to you, Tiance, today!"
Guo Tiance knelt on his knees and took over the throne, and said with pride: "We have traveled nine thousand and nine hundred miles, and in Suiye, Anxi, the Guo family still has incense, and they still remember their homeland.
When the country is unified and the four seas are united, my nephew will definitely escort this shrine to Suiye and Qiuci, so that the spirits of my ancestors in heaven will also be happy. "
Hearing this, Guo Zaihui also cried and bowed three times to the west, without even looking at Shi Jingtang on the Daning Palace, and then hurriedly left under the protection of more than ten cavalry.
At the top of Daning Palace, Shi Jingtang felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He took several steps back. A hint of shame slowly appeared on his face, which was soon replaced by a pale look.
He understood that the return of the Eighteen Prefectures in Longyou, Hexi, had something to do with everyone.
Zhang Zhao of Hexi became famous all over the world, and the persistence of the soldiers of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou was also admired by the world. The returning envoys from the Eighteen States will enjoy the courtesy of everyone in the world.
The descendants of the former generals of the Anxi Army and the Hexi Army, such as the remaining Yang family of Hongnong, the Yan family of Taiyuan, and the Guo family of Taiyuan, as well as the remaining descendants of the Anxi marching army, and the Ya soldiers of the Jiedushi envoys from various towns who were escorted along the way, all There is honor.
Only he, Shi Jingtang, might not get much glory!
The emperor was suddenly confused in Daning Palace. If he had not betrayed Yanyun Sixteen States, no! If he had not formally decreed the cession of the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures a few months ago, he would be the one enjoying this honor now.
Just look at the huge momentum created by the returning missions from the Eighteen States, the kind of feeling that makes everyone feel proud.
If he had not betrayed the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, if he had not called Yelu Deguang his father, then today, Shi Jingtang could rely on this great righteousness to unite people's hearts, suppress the feudal vassals at home, subjugate Tang and Shu externally, and drive Khitan in the north. Become an emperor through the ages.
He also understood that when he was still making a fuss on the Yu Wang Hao, Zhang Zhao had already cut off his life directly from the top.
It's too late! When the supreme righteousness is placed in the hands of a person who has destroyed all righteousness, it is not a bonus but a huge deduction.
He couldn't grasp it at all, and people in the world would only despise him even more because of this.
At this moment, right next to Shi Jingtang, the old fox Feng Dao's eyes showed an excited look that should not exist in him.
Jing Yanguang, who deeply hated Shi Jingtang's father's affiliation with the Khitan, sighed repeatedly.
Director Lu, Liu Tao, and Xue Juzheng all looked intoxicated. Liu Zhiyuan's chest heaved violently, and Yang Guangyuan looked directly at Shi Jingtang, wishing he was the one standing there.
Everyone, except for the notorious Sang Weihan, who was deeply bound to Shi Jingtang, all felt that the pearl of the Guiyi Army was covered in dust, and Shi Jingtang looked down upon it and was not like a human king!
For a time, people's hearts were in a state of confusion.
. . . .
The Yellow River has only one set of disadvantages, and Lingzhou, Lingwu, Huaiyuan and other places where Shuofang Jiedushi is located are the richest among the front set and the back set.
Here there are abundant water and grass, thousands of hectares of fertile farmland, the Yellow River has convenient water transportation, and the Yellow River waterway is naturally dangerous, allowing for farming and grazing. It is backed by the Central Plains and faces the desert.
Here, except for Shuofang, everywhere is arid and bitter cold land. Only Shuofang is located in the south of the Yangtze River. It is the first front line and the best base for the Central Plains dynasty to fight against the grassland peoples.
As long as the Central Plains dynasty has the Hetao area, it can easily form a huge advantage over the grassland peoples.
This is the best bridgehead and supply point for the Han nation in the northwest. When it is strong, it can go out to conquer Shuofang, and when it is poor and weak, it can also use it as a fortress.
The Lingwu Jiedu envoy at this time was Zhang Xichong from Youzhou. This king was also an extremely unusual existence in the late Tang and Five Dynasties.
He was captured by the Khitan in his early years, and the Khitan leader appointed him as Pingzhou Jiedushi, but he secretly regarded himself as Ban Chao and Su Wu, and was proud of being a Han.
During the reign of Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xichong had been planning for many years and inspired his subordinates with the story of Ban Chao. He raised troops to attack the Khitan soldiers and horses, and returned Pingzhou to the Tang Dynasty with 20,000 Han people. It is no exaggeration to call him a hero.
After returning home, Zhang Xichong was very filial to his mother. As a governor of a town, when he took his mother to take care of her in Ruzhou, he personally carried the sedan chair for more than thirty miles.
Romance
When he took up the post of Lingwu Jiedu Envoy, Zhang Xichong trained his soldiers well, served the government honestly, and maintained self-defense in the fields. The food was plentiful, so that the soldiers did not have to suffer the hardship of transportation.
The Lingwu Army, whose military discipline had been ruined, took on a new look under his rule. The Khitans who tried to seize Lingwu several times while Shi Jingtang entered the Central Plains did not dare to take action because they were afraid of his reputation.
When Pei Yuan first arrived in Lingwu, he was in a bitter mood. If his family hadn't been detained by Shi Jingtang, he would have abandoned his official position and ran to Hexi.
But after half a year, Pei Yuan was deeply impressed by Zhang Xichong and saw clearly the complex situation Lingwu faced.
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, Han people have moved away from this place for hundreds of years. Hu people are everywhere, ignorant of culture and education, and do not even identify with the Central Plains dynasty.
In the north and south of Lingzhou, Khitan cavalry came and went in the north, tempting Lingwu people to seek refuge.
The Xiang Li family, a party of the Nanjing Army in the southeast, is eyeing Lingwu. They keep sending party tribesmen to infiltrate Lingzhou in an attempt to swallow it up.
Pei Yuan was horrified to find that in Shuofang, an important border defense area of the country, the number of Han households was less than 2,000, and that of Hu people was ten times that.
Once this changes, whether it is occupied by the Khitans or captured by the Dangxiang people, there will no longer be peace in the northwest for the Central Plains dynasty that has lost Yanshan and Yinshan.
At this moment, an old man and a young man, who were deeply worried about the fate of Shuofang (Lingwu), the fate of the Central Plains court, and the fate of the Han people all over the world, stood withered at the head of Lingwu City, looking at the Yellow River under their feet and the distance in the distance. In the desert, I was speechless for a long time.
The situation in Lingwu has deteriorated, and it may be difficult to turn around. The Han people have moved away on a large scale. Even Zhang Xichong can only express his feelings.
Because the water source is drying up, what is the use of drilling a hundred wells?
As for Zhang Zhao, Pei Yuan thought about it, but he shook his head. Although Zhang Zhao was talented and brilliant, Hexi had been a barbarian for a long time, and it was already extremely difficult to correct it.
With the thousands of troops in the Guiyi Army, within three to five years, they would not be able to take care of both Lingwu and Lingwu.
"Yuying! The life here is dead. I am weak and old in the border towns. I have no choice but to escape my fortune! Just resign when you go back. Don't die like me!"
After a long time, Zhang Xichong held Pei Yuan's hand, and the two of them walked arm in arm towards Lingwu City.
Pei Yuan looked up to the sky and screamed sadly, struggled for a moment, and then shook his head.
"If you haven't arrived at Lingwu, you can pretend you haven't seen it. But when you arrive at Lingwu and see the mountains and rivers shattered and the disaster approaching, how can you just watch the fall of Lingwu?"
Zhang Xichong smiled movingly, and then the corners of his mouth were full of bitterness, "He is another person who can't escape his heart. If he can be like the Emperor of Tokyo, how can he have troubles?"
Pei Yuan was stunned, and the two laughed loudly at Nan Mian at the same time. In their smiles, there was a ruthless mockery of Shi Jingtang.
At this moment, the sound of camel bells came from the distance, and it sounded like a caravan was coming. Pei Yuan stood on tiptoes to look, and his expression changed unconsciously.
Anyone who can use this kind of Bactrian camel to carry goods must be related to Zhang Zhao.
Because after the existence of cyclone cannons in Hexi, this kind of Bactrian camels that could bear the cyclone cannons became military controlled livestock, and ordinary merchants could not get them at all.
Sure enough, when he looked down the city, he saw a caravan entering the city. Although the strong man leading the caravan looked like a Sogdian, he spoke Chinese extremely fluently.
Moreover, he also had an accent that seemed familiar to Pei Yuan. This very upright accent was very strange and difficult to forget once heard.
Under the sun, the purple-black hair of the strong Sogdian man who entered the Wengcheng was shining. He was one of Zhang Zhao's pretenders, the son-in-law of Kang Jinshan of the Hexi Sogdian Chamber of Commerce, and the heroic general of the Guiyi Army Zhang Liecheng.