In the second year of Shaoming Dynasty, 947 AD, on July 20th, Zhang Yan personally led six guards, including the right Yu Lin Guard, the left Longxiang Guard, the left Jinwu Guard, the right Qianniu Guard, and the right Leopard Tao Guard, totaling 18,000 people.
In addition to Li Shengtian's Khotan warriors' 1,000 warriors and Han Shandu's 2,000 cavalry, there were 21,000 people in total, as well as 30,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians, for a total of 51,000 people.
First, he went north to Yunzhou (Datong) to appease the local people.
Then go east, take the Feihu Ancient Road in Yuzhou (Yuxian County, Hebei Province) to enter Yizhou, and then turn northeast to Youzhou.
On the way, Zhang Hao also personally directed a battle.
Wang Hui, the governor of Daizhou in the northeast of Taiyuan, had colluded with the Khitans long before Shi Jingtang ceded Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures.
After the Shanxi-Liao War, he surrendered to the Khitans in advance and let go of the Yanmen Pass, which caused the Khitans to march straight in several times and almost broke into Taiyuan City. This was a heinous crime.
When the Khitan was defeated, Wang Hui was so frightened that he scraped the land in Daizhou and bribed Liu Zhiyuan three feet thick.
In order to reserve resources to fight against Zhang Yan, Liu Zhiyuan pardoned Wang Hui and secretly ordered him to send troops to search Yunzhou and Yuzhou occupied by the Khitans.
After Yan Jin arrived, Wang Hui sent people to seek refuge, but how could Yan Jin accept the surrender of such a person.
According to Zhang Zhou's law, Wang Hui's death ten times is not too much. It is simply a daydream to continue to serve as the governor of Daizhou after surrendering.
So Wang Hui, who had no way out, frantically began to recruit troops and grain in Daizhou, built Daizhou City, and prepared more than a thousand tooth soldiers to resist.
Zhang Yan was merciless this time. He ordered his army to surround Daizhou, raised Lu Gong's chariots, piled up mountains of earth, and shot down the city of Daizhou from a high position. He spent all his money blasting the city gates everywhere, rushing and crashing chariots into battle.
On the third day of the battle, the troops and horses in Daizhou City could no longer hold up. The people in the city fought with Wang Hui's soldiers and opened the west gate to surrender. Li Cunhui took the lead in sending troops to break into the city and beheaded Wang Hui, the governor of Daizhou, and his two sons.
Zhang Yan showed for the first time the courage of an emperor to lay down millions of corpses in anger.
In one fell swoop, he demoted Wang Hui's soldiers and generals, the local bandits and bandits who colluded with them, and the families who served as guides for the Khitans. He demoted the women to slavery and killed all the men.
Just outside Daizhou City, 1,500 people were executed.
This incident not only greatly shocked those with evil intentions everywhere, but also made the people of Taiyuan realize that Emperor Shaoming was not incapable of killing people, but rather treated Taiyuan people with special preferential treatment, which made people even more convinced.
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And when Zhang Gao personally supervised the army to capture Daizhou, Murong Nobunaga was also working on solving the situation that Zhang Gao didn't want to face the most.
That's Zhao Yanshou's problem.
In fact, Youzhou did not need to be attacked at all. On that day, Murong Nobunaga intercepted Gao Song's troops and directly beat the last Liao cavalry to pieces.
Although Gao Song finally led more than a hundred cavalry to escape in the dark night, Youzhou's fate was already sealed.
Since the six states of You, Tan, Ji, Mo, Ying, and Gui were betrayed by Shi Jingtang to the Khitan people, the local quality of life has suddenly dropped by a notch.
No matter how the Lu Longjun Zhao family is a warlord, they still regard these six states as their own property. They can certainly plunder them, but they are within the tolerance of the people.
But the Khitan people are different. When they enter the colorful world of Youzhou, they will definitely not restrain themselves unless they eat their bellies full.
Coupled with the Jin-Liao War and the subsequent oppression by Yelu Ruan, the six states of the Lulong Army were simply like hell.
This is actually the reason why Zhao Yanshou was still able to gain a foothold in Youzhou after he suffered several setbacks in the Central Plains, destroying the old foundation of the Lu Long Army and his son Zhao Kuangzan abandoned it and returned south.
Because the people of the six states of Lu Longjun discovered that compared to the Khitan people, the Zhao family was undoubtedly much gentler, and they missed the time when the Zhao family was there even more.
Therefore, people's hearts are towards the Zhao family, and even Yelu Deguang has to rely on Zhao Yanshou's name to stabilize the six states.
But for Zhang Zhou, Zhao Yanshou was completely a burden.
From the perspective of national sentiment, Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou were particularly shameless. Shi Jingtang would not have been cruel enough to sell Youzhou to the Khitan even if Zhao Dejun and Shi Jingtang were not competing for it.
Because the six states of Lu Longjun, including Youzhou, were Zhao Dejun's territory at that time, Shi Jingtang not only felt free of burden when selling, but he could also eliminate a powerful competitor.
Zhao Dejun himself is not a good person. In terms of shamelessness, he is only a little bit inferior to Shi Jingtang.
More importantly, in the third Shanxi-Liao War, which was the time when Yelu Deguang was able to take control of the Central Plains, Zhao Yanshou went south as a vanguard.
The two thousand people led by Wang Qing by the Hutuo River were attacked and destroyed by Zhao Yanshou, and Zhao Yanshou even killed Wang Qing with his own hands.
On Zhang Zhou's side, Wang Qing was a great hero who fought against the Khitan and died unyieldingly. He has been posthumously promoted to the high position of King Wu'an, so no matter from which aspect, Zhao Yanshou must be killed.
But unfortunately, Zhao Yanshou had a good son, Zhao Kuangzan, who not only caught up with Zhang Gao early, but also married Zhang Gao's adopted daughter, Princess Baoding, and is now Zhang Zhou's consort.
In other words, Zhang Yan and Zhao Yanshou are actually sons and daughters.
Murong Nobunaga also knew that Zhang Yan was very taboo about killing relatives, not to mention that Zhao Kuangzan was very favored by Zhang Yan, and he was not willing to hurt Zhao Kuangzan's heart.
However, it is impossible for Zhao Yanshou to die, there is no reason for him to continue to live!
Therefore, Murong Nobunaga, who knew his adoptive father's heart well, was the best person to solve this problem.
Because he has another identity, that is, Zhao Yanshou's brother-in-law and Zhao Kuangzan's uncle. If he gives Zhao Yanshou a ride, Zhao Kuangzan will not have other bad associations.
As early as May, when Zhang Yan went south to pursue Liu Zhiyuan, Murong Nobunaga had already entered Youzhou City.
Because after the collapse of the 40,000-strong army that the Khitans had worked so hard for, the people in You, Ji and other six states who were deeply oppressed by the Khitans immediately rose up to resist.
Khitan general Gao Song originally planned to take his people into Youzhou to rob him, and then take Yelu Ruan's son to go to Linhuang Mansion in Beijing to live alone.
As a result, after the Han people in Liuzhou became violent, they defeated more than a thousand cavalry who retreated to the border of Youzhou with him.
Gao Song was so frightened that he could only run away with more than a hundred horses. Not to mention Youzhou City, he didn't even dare to go to Lu County (near Tong County), so he ran all the way into the grassland and disappeared.
So Murong Nobunaga immediately divided the labor and cooperated with Gao Xingzhou. Murong Nobunaga led the army directly into Youzhou City and controlled the four states of You, Yi, Ying and Mo.
Gao Xingzhou went northwest to Changping and left Juyongguan to stabilize Guizhou.
Gao Huaide led the 500 Linwei elite cavalry and 400 Hanshandu elite cavalry assigned to him by Murong Nobunaga, and headed northeast to Taogu Mountain and headed straight to Tanzhou to block Gubeikou.
Zhang Xibao led 500 right feather Lin Wei Jing to ride out of Sanhe County to control Jizhou, rebuild Yanshan Fortress to guard the city, and guard against the Khitans in western Liaoning.
This set of combos showed Murong Nobunaga's long-term strategic vision.
He entered Youzhou and directly controlled Zhao Yanshou to stabilize the most important Youzhou.
The father and son of the Gao family have been entrenched in the north and south of Yanshan for a long time, and heroes from the north of the mountain still recognize the Gao family as their brand, immediately stabilizing the situation in Youzhou.
Then Murong Nobunaga, as the governor of Chijie Pingyan, ordered the volunteers from various states to garrison the state city on the spot. The governors of each state immediately stabilized the place and asked them to submit a list of volunteers. Once the saints arrived, they would be rewarded according to their merits.
With Wen's help and Wu's help, the six states of Lu Longjun immediately settled down.
After doing this, Murong Nobunaga ordered his people to release the blockade of Zhao Yanshou's mansion. After disarming all the weapons, he went to the city to meet his brother-in-law, Zhao Yanshou, King of Khitan Wei.
But when Murong Nobunaga saw Zhao Yanshou again, he was immediately startled by Zhao Yanshou's appearance.
When he let Zhao Yanshou go in Henan, Zhao Yanshou was still a energetic and handsome old man.
But when I saw him today, I saw that Zhao Yanshou was much older, with white hair on his head and almost eighteen wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
You must know that Zhao Yanshou has been beautiful and handsome since he was a child. Otherwise, Zhao Dejun would not have regarded him as his biological son. Emperor Mingzong of Tang Dynasty and Li Siyuan married his daughter to him after only one meeting.
Zhao Yanshou has always been proud of his appearance, but now, Zhao Yanshou, who pays great attention to appearance, no longer cares about it, and his tall body in the past seems to be much shorter.
"My brother's life has been unsatisfactory!" Murong Nobunaga couldn't help but sigh.
That's what he is like. Maybe the literary youth gene passed down by Mrs. Cao Sanniang always has a soft heart towards those close to him, like spring and autumn.
Zhao Yanshou glanced at Murong Nobunaga and said nothing, but nodded slightly, "Is the 14th Master here to kill his brother?"
Murong Nobunaga was about to shake his head and deny it, but he quickly stopped. Zhao Yanshou must die. Only if he dies everyone, including his son Zhao Kuangzan, will things be better.
In the awkward silence, Murong Nobunaga suddenly changed the topic and took out a fragrant purse.
"This is Brother Cun's fetal hair when he was a hundred days old. Baoding kept some of it and asked me to bring it to make a pen for my brother."
Cun Geer is the son of Zhao Kuangzan and Zhang Zhi's adopted daughter, Princess Baoding, Zhang Qiwan. This Zhang Zhi's biological grandson has just turned 100 days old. At this time, according to the practice of fetal development of writing brushes after a hundred days, it will only be given to the closest elders. Zhang Zhi also Got a purse.
Zhao Yanshou glanced at his purse and did not reach out to take it. Instead, his eyes suddenly turned red and his breathing became heavy. He said to Murong Nobunaga: "The weather is getting colder. Will Fourteen be willing to have a drink with me?"
Murong Nobunaga nodded and waved the guards around him to go down and prepare. Now Zhao Yanshou's mansion is completely controlled by Murong Nobunaga. If he doesn't speak, Zhao Yanshou can't do anything.
Soon, warm wine and several plates of side dishes were brought out. Zhao Yanshou took a few mouthfuls and stopped shaking. He seemed to have regained his original appearance of a warrior on horseback.
He didn't care about the heat and drank a large bowl of hot wine. The crystal wine dripped down Zhao Yanshou's beard.
Suddenly, Zhao Yanshou put the bowl heavily on the table and said bitterly: "In the past, a certain person kept telling the adults that the opponent of my Zhao family was not Ah San from Luoyang, but Shi Jingtang from Hedong, but he just didn't believe it!
Then Li Asan came to the throne through crying. He was old and suffered from injuries. There were not many people who obeyed him, and many disciples were incompetent.
On the other hand, my father and son, the Zhao family, are in good health and have control over the northern goblin knights. Once Li Asan dies, how can we be sure that the northern goblin elites will take advantage of the situation and move south?
Only Shi Jingtang seemed to be respectful, but in reality he was shameless and cruel. He also occupied the land of Longxing in the east of Hedong, and he was regarded as a formidable enemy, and it turned out to be true! "
Li Asan refers to Li Congke, the late emperor of the late Tang Dynasty. In the past, Li Congke was extremely brave in his prime. During the Tang-Liang War, he once took a risk and took more than a dozen cavalry among the Liang army to retreat to the Liang army's camp, and then took advantage of the Liang army's absence. Prepared, more than ten cavalrymen rose up and killed Liang Jun, and ran back to the formation and cut down the flag in front of Liang Jun's camp.
When Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu saw it, he shouted: "How magnificent, Asan!"
Li Congke is Zhao Yanshou's uncle, so he is also called Li Asan.
The past events Zhao Yanshou talked about were the past events when Li Congke ordered an army to besiege Jinyang and attack Shi Jingtang.
At that time, Zhao Yanshou's father, King of Peking Zhao Dejun, was also ordered to attack Shi Jingtang. Zhao Yanshou urged that Shi Jingtang should be killed as soon as possible, and then he could control the people of the North before making plans.
Because at that time, it was almost obvious that Shi Jingtang wanted to borrow troops from the Khitan. Zhao Yanshou was in Youji, and he knew that the strength of the Khitan people was not what it used to be.
As long as Shi Jingtang borrows troops, he will probably use Zhao and his son, who have always been a thorn in his side, as a bargaining chip.
But Zhao Dejun did not listen. He also regarded the Khitan as the Khitan who was beaten by the Central Plains during the Li Cunxu period.
He didn't take it seriously, but he asked Li Congke to rule the entire Hebei Province, and wanted to annex Fan Yanguang's team who also went to suppress the rebellion.
Of course, the result was a fight. The Later Tang army did not attack Shi Jingtang and almost started fighting on his own. This also gave Shi Jingtang an opportunity. He immediately chose to betray the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun in exchange for the Khitans going south.
After the Khitan army defeated Zhang Jingda, the head coach of the Later Tang Dynasty, they immediately surrounded the father and son of the Zhao family, who were their henchmen.
The soldiers under his command were also disappointed with Zhao Dejun and left one after another. The Zhao family and his son became Khitan prisoners, and Zhao Dejun was beaten to death on the grassland by the Khitan people.
Murong Nobunaga sighed in his heart, if Zhao Dejun could listen to Zhao Yanshou back then, it is really unknown what the world would be like, at least the Khitans would not be able to take away the six states of Lu Longjun.
After talking about the past in his heart, Zhao Yanshou felt depressed again.
After he finished venting, Murong Nobunaga's heart hardened. He raised his wine bowl and asked Zhao Yanshou for a drink.
"What my brother regrets is that the plan in the past did not come true, but have you ever thought about it? If my brother and his son could have been loyal ministers of the country, instead of trying to overcome difficulties, how could things have happened today?
When the elder brother and his son were alive, there were one million households and five million people in Hebei. Today, the number is less than half. How could they be innocent? My mother-in-law died in the wild, and my wife and daughter were kidnapped by the northern captives. It was all the fault of the elder brother, father and son! "
Zhao Yanshou did not expect Murong Nobunaga to say such words, because in Zhao Yanshou's view, the people are like weeds in the field, they will grow again after being cut. I want to do a great cause, who cares about their life and death?
After being stunned for a long time, Zhao Yanshou said slowly: "The 14th Master seems to be different from us."
"Mencius said: In the world, the people are the most valuable, the country is second, and the king is the least important.
Xunzi said: The king is a boat. Common people are water. Water carries the boat, water overturns the boat.
The elder brother and his son never know this truth, so they harm others and themselves. Today's saints take this as their motto and engrave it on Chongwen Hall, thinking that they should be heroes who save the world. "
When Murong Nobunaga said this, his eyes showed deep disdain for people like Zhao Dejun, Zhao Yanshou and his son, and what rose in his heart was the infinite admiration for his adoptive father Shaoming Zhang Shengren.
When Zhao Yanshou saw Murong Nobunaga like this, he knew that there was no way to survive, but he still refused to give up. After muttering for a long time, he finally raised his head and looked at Murong Nobunaga.
"Jushiro, is there really no chance?"
Murong Nobunaga slowly shook his head and replied decisively: "No more!"
Suddenly he couldn't bear to say, "Unless brother is willing to go to Yelu Lihu's place."
"Hahahaha! Yelu Lihu! Hahahaha!" Zhao Yanshou suddenly stood up and laughed like a madman until tears flowed from his eyes.
"Then forget it! Just stay here, you can always bury your bones in your hometown. When the Silver Saddle Khitan died in Luzhou in the past, my father and son should have died together!"
Amid the wild laughter, a figure of a strong man with curly hair and a leopard head flashed in Zhao Yanshou's mind. The deafening sound rang so loudly in Zhao Yanshou's ears.
"Zhao Yanshou, we will die today, and your father and son will also die violently tomorrow!"
Twenty years ago, Zhao Yanshou and his son gathered Khitan heroes in Lulong to form the Silver Saddle Khitan Order.
The three thousand men under his command were equipped with silver saddles and silver spears. They were invincible with their bows and horses. They were invincible. They were one of the few cavalry teams in the world. They were the foundation of Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou's father and son.
After the defeat of Tuanbai Valley, Zhao Dejun and his son ran south to Luzhou, but were eventually forced to surrender by the Khitan. Yelu Deguang asked Zhao Dejun: "Where is the silver saddle Khitan you placed when you were in Youzhou?"
Zhao Dejun gave instructions with his hands, and Yelu Deguang ordered the people to kill all 3,000 Yinan Khitans in the western suburbs of Luzhou, and took Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou into the grassland for detention.
From that moment on, the Zhao family and his son lost all their capital, and their subsequent reuse was just that Yelu Deguang wanted to use Zhao Yanshou to stabilize the six states of the Lulong Army.
Murong Nobunaga stood up silently, took a breath, and turned to walk out.
Zhao Yanshou suddenly threw himself on the table, opened the sachet given to him by Princess Baoding, took out a strand of soft baby hair, and greedily sniffed the smell of milk on it, with tears streaming down his face. Finally, he showed a somewhat loving expression.
"After all, my son knows the right time better than you. Please report back to Emperor Shaoming. Zhao Yanshou knows that he does not want to be stained with the blood of his relatives, so a certain family has killed Yelu Ruan's son and daughter in advance so that he will not be embarrassed!
He wants my son Kuangzan to be a prince for all generations! "
Amidst the screams, Zhao Yanshou picked up the long dagger that Murong Nobunaga left for him on the table, howled wildly, and suddenly inserted it from the left side of his neck. Blood spattered everywhere, killing him on the spot.
