Whether it is Li Jiqian or Yuan Ke, both can barely be called "criminal thieves". They both have the temperament that people at the time called heroes. They always choose to struggle until they are in desperate situations.
However, Liu Yang could sit back and watch the chaos in Yulin and give up control of almost all areas except towns, but he would not let the rebels act. Strictly guard against the rebels who attack the towns, and focus on attacking the thieves who plunder the transportation lines.
Rebel leaders like Li and Yuan, who were registered with the imperial court and even Emperor Liu, were also Liu Fang's key targets. Staying still was just a matter of strategy and tactical silence.
Therefore, when the two thieves Li and Yuan attacked one after another, the Han army also followed suit. Along the way, Li Jiqian led Meng Xuanzhe as the chief general, accompanied by Yu Qing, Wen Mo's cavalry general Pan Luozhi and others. They led fifteen thousand cavalry to the north to find Li Jiqian and attack him.
Meng Xuanzhe and Pan Luozhi need not say more. Zhe Yuqing's identity is obviously more special. This is Liu Fang's cousin, who is twenty-six years old and is the current head of the Zhe family.
The title of many heroes of the Han Dynasty, twenty-four dukes, descended in three generations. The Dukes of the country, starting from Zhe and Ruan, were first passed on to Zhe Deke, and then to Zhe Yuxun. Zhe Yuxun died early in his prime because he had no children. Under Emperor Liu's gracious decree, the young Zhe Yuqing succeeded his brother in the title of nobility.
In fact, if the inheritance was purely based on blood, according to the Han Dynasty title inheritance system, it would make sense to take back the acting Duke. However, there are always exceptions to everything, and not to mention the influence of the Zhe family in the military community, Emperor Liu had to make an exception if it was to damage Concubine Xian's reputation.
However, by the time of the imperial concubine, the Duke of Dai could no longer maintain his position, so he was downgraded to a hereditary rank and changed to the title of Duke of Dai. In addition to its own special attributes, it also has another meaning, that is, it became the beginning of the hereditary inheritance of the top nobles of the Han Dynasty.
After all, among the Twenty-Four Heroes, except for Wang Zhang and Wang Jun who cannot be passed down, most of the first and second generations of other families are still there, but they have passed away a bit quickly.
Of course, Zhe Yuqing was not reused just because of his status. Although he was young, he had outstanding military talents. He had previously served as the commander of the Taiyuan Military and Horse Capital, and he was also among the troops deployed to counter the rebellion in Yulin.
On the way to Yuan Ke, Tian Chongjin was the main general, leading more than 30,000 officers and soldiers, mainly the Forbidden Army, to march westward, supplemented by the Lingyan local army, to jointly attack Yuan Ke's rebels. This was not only to prevent Yuan Ke from crossing the Yellow River and jumping into Hexi, but also to prevent Yuan Ke from crossing the Yellow River and jumping into Hexi. It is planned to completely eliminate it in Lingzhou.
A military operation of this scale can be said to be the first time since the Yulin Rebellion that the government and army have really exerted their strength, with tens of thousands of people at every turn. Of course, this is also the result of Liu Fang's preparation for several months, and it can be like a thunderbolt. .
This is on the basis of ensuring Yulin's "major martial law" and town defense and logistical support. Why do hundreds of thousands of troops have to be mobilized to suppress a mere rebellion in Yulin? This is to ensure complete control. No matter how much trouble you make, the situation will be stable. The land was placed under the control of the army.
Although it is not a good time to mobilize troops in the middle of winter, the bad weather is the same. Even if the rebels are "fighting at home", their lives are really difficult, otherwise they would not be in a hurry to fight against the trapped beasts. They are all officials. Forced by the military.
In contrast, in addition to fighting the severe cold weather, the army's food and clothing are fully guaranteed. If the food and clothing are sufficient, the morale of the army will be stable. Killing thieves will be rewarded with military exploits, and casualties will be compensated. This is the crushing of absolute strength.
When Li Jiqian went north, he also had cunning intentions. He wanted to mobilize his officers and soldiers to find an opportunity to annihilate one of his troops, fight a victorious battle, collect the captured troops, and gain space for the next spring's battle.
Judging from the results, part of his goal was achieved. The officers and soldiers were indeed dispatched, but under the leadership of Meng Xuanzhe, they emphasized the word "gou" and did not engage in fancy tactics such as dividing, advancing and combining attacks. They just concentrated their forces and followed the traces. And go.
The scout posts and cavalry are spread widely, the army is transformed into mules and horses, and the army has sufficient supplies. It is ready to fight at any time, maintains combat effectiveness at any time, and never advances rashly. When encountering raids and harassment by the rebels, they resolutely counterattacked, but were not eager to disperse their formations and seek to expand their results.
The two armies were entangled all the way north, fighting in the Gobi desert and the windy and cold areas. However, no matter what plot Li Jiqian planned or what tactics he implemented, whether it was harassment and delay, or pretending to be defeated, the officers and soldiers remained motionless.
In the end, Li Jiqian was forced to have no choice but to come up with some practical temptations, lead his army northward, cross the long-frozen Yellow River, and attack Fengzhou.
As the northernmost jurisdiction of Yulin Road, Fengzhou was like an outsider during the turmoil in Yulin for more than a year and was never greatly affected, because the hot spot of Li Jiqian's rebellion was always in the south, which was relatively affluent and where party items gathered.
It was not until the autumn and winter of this year that the Yulin rebellion broke out. Under the imperial court's overall counter-insurgency strategy, the local officials and military in Fengzhou were truly on guard. Fengzhou has a small population and a small army, but it has the most basic characteristics of Han border towns, which is solidity.
When the rebels came, they were not in a hurry, they just strengthened the walls and cleared the fields, and just defended the city to the death. The rebels raided Fengzhou and did not gain much, so they forced themselves towards the city and quickly launched an attack.
The rebel army led by Li Jiqian has more than 30,000 people, and they are basically all party members. Even if they rely on human lives to gather them, Fengzhou may not be able to hold on for long. However, when Fengzhou's request for help reached the Han army camp heading north, Meng Xuanzhe still did not move lightly.
Because he was too familiar with the formation that Li Jiqian put up in Fengzhou. The defeat of Zhen'an Fort a few months ago was still fresh in his memory, and the Han army was no stranger to the tactics of encircling a point to mobilize reinforcements.
However, the key to why this method works so well is that it must be saved when attacking the enemy. Since the uprising in Yulin, the rebels have been rampant, but they have never conquered any city in Yulin.
Even if Fengzhou was just a small border town, if it fell, the political price behind it would not be something Meng Xuanzhe could bear. Therefore, if Fengzhou was in danger and asked for help urgently, he still had to lend a helping hand. He could not just sit back and watch Li Jiqian conquer Fengzhou without doing anything.
Li Jiqian also had the idea of encircling the point to call for reinforcements. Fengzhou was just a bait. However, Meng Xuanzhe's stability eventually let him down. The Han army made rescue movements, but they were not impatient. They still moved forward slowly and cautiously.
Under the leadership of Li Jiqian, the rebels' raid did not achieve the desired effect, or in other words, they were just waiting for them to take action. The entanglement between the two sides finally came to an end along the Yellow River.
In terms of hard power, even if the rebels are twice as many as the official army, they are still weaker. Although the party members are fierce, they are far inferior to the official army in terms of organization and training.
In the previous entanglement, although Meng Xuanzhe was conservative and prudent, the rebels were also cautious and unwilling to take a neat gamble. Of course, it is not the two warring parties that determine the outcome of the battlefield. Li Jiqian set a trap in Fengzhou, but ignored the principle that the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows behind.
The fatal threat came from behind, and of course it was not Fengzhou. Li Jilong, the commander-in-chief of the Prince Consort and the commander of Shanyang City, led five thousand Shanyang cavalry and divine soldiers descended from the sky to severely defeat the rebels. Together with Meng Xuanzhe, Li Jiqian's rebels were completely defeated.
More than 30,000 rebels were wiped out in one fell swoop, and Li Jiqian fled in embarrassment, not knowing where he ended up. The officers and soldiers only captured more than a thousand people. Under the fierce pursuit of the officers and soldiers, less than a thousand escaped. As for how such a result was achieved, it will be obvious to the viewer.
Therefore, before the end of the 21st year of Kaibao, the main force of Xiazhou Dangxiang's rebellion had been eliminated. Although Li Jiqian, the leader of the bandits, was still on the run, the imperial court never really cared about such a person.
Li Jiqian, who did not have the support of the party rebels, was just a rogue bandit in the final analysis. And with the current situation in Yulin, it will be even more difficult for Li Jiqian to keep fighting like he did in the past year or so.
Li Jiqian was defeated, and his power fell to the bottom. Yuan Ke, who marched westward to Lingzhou, was also a sibling. He faced the elites of the imperial court, including the imperial army, and a battlefield veteran like Tian Chongjin, and completely exposed the Han army's weakness. within sight.
Different from the constant entanglement in Xiazhou's quelling the rebellion, the Yuan Ke rebels were completely encircled and suppressed. Before Yuan Ke's rebels left Yanzhou, they were already captured by Tian Zhong's army. In three consecutive battles, the rebels were defeated in three battles. By the time Yuan Ke's rebels fled into Lingzhou, they were already dead. Collapse, and the situation became even more dangerous. With the cooperation of Lingzhou officers and soldiers, they were completely trapped, with no way to the sky and no way to the earth, until they were killed to death.
The "anyway" rebel general Wang Wei revealed the rebel generals under Yuan Ke. Every one of them was killed on the battlefield or beheaded after being captured.
Even Yuan Ke, the leader of the Yanzhou rebellion, could not escape a dismal end. He did not seem to take advantage of Li Jiqian's escape attribute, and was trampled to pieces on the battlefield.
Yuan Ke is an acceptable person for Song Jiang, but if he were to lead the troops in battle, beat the gongs and drums face to face, and fight the imperial court head on, he would still be too weak. After all, this is just a careerist who cannot recognize himself and harbors unrealistic ambitions. He takes advantage of the situation, thrives and dies. In fact, he was defeated earlier than Li Jiqian.
In fact, twenty-two years after entering Kaibao, there were no large-scale rebels in the entire Yulin. The rapid defeat of the two thieves Yuan and Li basically announced the final outcome of the Yulin rebellion.
However, after the two decisive victories, Yulin did not calm down. It was not that the rebellious party members were unwilling to compromise, but that the imperial blockade continued.
After the beginning of spring, the officers and soldiers attacked again, letting go of their hands and feet to attack and kill bandits suspected of being rebels. In Yulin, whether they were bandits or not had already been determined. Of course, in this matter, apart from some of the officers and soldiers, it is the subordinate miscellaneous tribesmen who play the role of butcher.
Under Xingying's indulgence and even encouragement, whether it was for survival or wealth, these miscellaneous servants did not hesitate to raise their butcher knives at those "traitors", kill them wantonly, and ask for rewards from the court with their heads.
The entire Yulin, at the beginning of the 22nd year of Kaibao, gradually became a colosseum. All people who were excluded by the government had to transform into animals, bite each other, and kill each other until the blood was drained and everyone died. Light.
(End of chapter)
