In Yedu, An Chongrong's rebellion was put down, Du Chongwei killed Zhenzhou to a white ground, and the north was peaceful.
The rebellion of An Congjin, the governor of Shannanxi Road in the south, was also put down.
It turned out that after Xiangzhou was besieged for eight months, the food and grass in the city were exhausted, and there were no reinforcements from outside. The naval forces of Ma Chu and Jingnan also continued to increase their troops.
An Congjin and his son had no way to go to heaven or earth. Finally, Gao Xingzhou and others captured the city. An's father, son, brothers and dozens of family members were killed, and the rebellion was put down.
But Shi Jingtang's good mood ended here. Two months ago, Shi Jingtang used Du Chongwei's victory over An Chongrong as an excuse to appoint Du Chongwei as a bodyguard, commander of Ma Bu's pro-army, Xuzhou Zhongwu Jiedushi, and Tongping Zhangshi.
Maybe he felt that Liu Zhiyuan had contributed to Bai Chengfu's ministry and cut off An Chongrong's escape route.
It is also possible that Du Chongwei was really unworthy of publicity, so Shi Jingtang also added Tongping Zhang Shi to Liu Zhiyuan.
As a result, Liu Zhiyuan became furious in Taiyuan. He believed that Shi Jingtang was using his reputation in vain to pave the way for Du Chongwei.
Therefore, whenever Shi Jingtang's envoys arrived, Liu Zhiyuan locked up the Taiyuan Office and refused Shi Jingtang's rewards four times in a row.
After Shi Jingtang got the news, he cursed Liu Zhiyuan in Yedu.
"Although Zhiyuan has meritorious service, he is my brother-in-law who has great power and great merit. As a minister, how can he, Liu Zhiyuan, dare to refuse the monarch's order like this?"
Zhao Ying, the privy envoy beside him, hurriedly advised Shi Jingtang, "Your Majesty was in Jinyang with only five thousand soldiers, but he was attacked by more than one hundred thousand soldiers from the Tang Dynasty. He was in danger of the dew of the morning. How could he achieve great things unless he knew the distance and had a heart as solid as stone?"
How can I dismiss it as a minor fault! I am afraid that this statement will be heard by others, but it does not show the magnanimity of others."
Historically, this scene occurred when Liu Zhiyuan had not returned to Taiyuan, but was serving as the governor of the Zhongwu Army in Songzhou.
At that time, Liu Zhiyuan did not have the capital to challenge Shi Jingtang, so he was quickly frightened and wrote a letter to apologize.
But now, An Chongrong raised his troops in advance, and Liu Zhiyuan also went to Taiyuan in advance, holding 30,000 troops and horses, and gaining the loyalty of the new generation of nobles from the north. They were not afraid of Shi Jingtang at all, and Shi Jingtang had nothing to do with him.
So the emperor could only take advantage of Zhao Ying's words and stop mentioning the matter.
A few days later, another bad news came from Luoyang. Fan Yanguang, who had initially rebelled but was pardoned by Shi Jingtang and named Prince of Dongping County, Prince and Grand Master, and bestowed with an iron certificate on the alchemy book, fell into the water and died.
Although Fan Yanguang had rebelled against Shi Jingtang, he was still a colleague who had followed Li Siyuan with Shi Jingtang.
Shi Jingtang was about to send an envoy to express condolences to Fan Yanguang's family, but at this time, the real cause of Fan Yanguang's death came through.
It turned out that Fan Yanguang knew that he had offended Shi Jingtang, so after surrendering, he asked Shi Jingtang for the Iron Book of Alchemy, which is the gold medal for immunity from death in folklore, and Shi Jingtang generously gave it to him.
So Fan Yanguang knew that his life was no longer in danger, so he wisely resigned from all his posts and returned home with his belongings to retire.
Shi Jingtang also admired Fan Yanguang's awareness of current affairs, so he asked him to move to Luoyang, Xijing.
But by coincidence, Yang Guangyuan, who asked a fortune teller to read his fortune, happened to be transferred from Pinglu and Ziqing Jiedushi to Xijing's left-behind and Heyang three-town Jiedushi.
Yang Guangyuan was greedy for Fan Yanguang's family property, so he ordered his son Yang Chengxun to bring soldiers into Fan Yanguang's home and force him to commit suicide.
Fan Yanguang took out the iron coupon of the alchemy book and shouted, "The emperor has given me immortality!"
Yang Chengxun immediately asked his soldiers to take Fan Yanguang hostage and put him on a horse. When passing the Yishui pontoon bridge, Yang Chengxun and others deliberately frightened Fan Yanguang's horse. The horse was frightened and fell off Fan Yanguang's back.
However, Fan Yanguang was lucky enough to grab a corner of the pontoon and did not fall into the water. Yang Chengxun simply ordered the soldiers to push him into the water and drown him.
Later, Yang Guangyuan killed Fan Yanguang's family, took their belongings, and reported to Shi Jingtang that Fan Yanguang fell into the water and died.
When Shi Jingtang heard the real cause of Fan Yanguang's death, he was silent for a long time. Fan Yanguang was not only his old brother, but also the minister who personally gave him the elixir book to avoid death. Yang Guangyuan dared to kill him just because he was greedy for wealth.
This was not only a matter of lawlessness, but also a complete contempt for him, Shi Jingtang.
As the emperor, he could not protect Fan Yanguang, who had the iron certificate of alchemy. This proved that Yang Guangyuan did not take him seriously at all, and the emperor's majesty had been wiped out.
Shi Jingtang wanted to send a large army to attack Yang Guangyuan, but after three successive rebellions by An Chongrong, An Congjin and Li Quanjin.
Shi Jingtang could no longer spare any troops to deal with Yang Guangyuan, who had 20,000 troops, so he could only knock out his teeth and swallow them.
At the end of April, the ruler of Fujian, Wang Chang, sent Zheng Yuanbi and Lin En as envoys to Kaifeng and then to Yedu, but their words were very disrespectful.
The lord of Fujian, Wang Chang, actually asked the later Jin Dynasty to treat Wang Min with equal national etiquette, and ridiculed the Central Plains, saying that the throne of Beichen moved frequently.
Shi Jingtang, who had nowhere to vent his evil fire, finally found the flood outlet. Wang Min was located in a remote place, and even the Min area could not have it all, and now he wanted to come and act wild in front of Shi Jingtang.
The emperor was furious and sent an envoy from Fujian to Zheng Yuanbi. Lin En was imprisoned and sent an envoy to Wang Chang, the king of Fujian, to order him to take care of himself. In other words, he wrote a letter to defend himself, which meant that he would send troops to attack if he did not explain clearly.
At the end of May, Shi Jingtang saw that the land in Hebei was peaceful, so he set up his carriage and led the victorious imperial army back south from Yedu in a show of force.
After arriving at Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo, Shi Jingtang generously rewarded the generals and soldiers, marinated An Chongrong's head, and thoughtfully sent an envoy to Yelu Deguang.
As a result, the Khitan envoys had just set out, and the Khitan envoys arrived in Tokyo.
At this time, the forty-eight-year-old Shi Jingtang was tired from continuous travel, and his body was infected with wind and cold, which was already very bad. However, when he heard that the Khitan envoy was coming, he still dragged his sick body to invite the Khitan envoy to see him.
Although the Khitan envoy looked a little strange, Shi Jingtang didn't notice it. Instead, he felt happy because the envoy was quite respectful this time. In the past, the Khitan envoy was bossy and rude.
But this joy soon ended.
"Kill me too!"
Before he finished reading the edict written by Yelv Deguang himself, Shi Jingtang screamed in the Chengtian Hall of Daning Palace and fell down from the throne.
Privy Councilor He Ning, Prime Minister Feng Dao, Privy Councilor Zhao Ying and others were shocked and rushed over to help Shi Jingtang up.
The sharp-eyed Feng Dao secretly took a look at the contents of the Khitan edict.
The content is very simple, it just reports one thing ‘that’s all’.
On the 15th day of the fifth month, I made an alliance with the King of Han at Yuanyangbo and became brothers.
The King of Han honored the Empress Dowager Yingtian as the Empress Dowager of the World, and paid tribute with silk cloth, tea, sugar, etc.
The Empress Dowager Yingtian gave the King of Han gold, jewels and jade and the robes of the Khitan Prince, calling him her son and ordering her and her superiors to guard the east and west without committing any crimes. It is okay to have people pay tribute every year.
Feng Dao was stunned. He looked at Shi Jingtang, whose mouth was dripping with blood and whose body was still twitching slightly. Although he was crying and calling for the doctor, he still couldn't understand it in his heart.
Hexi Zhang Zhao, even if he had Hexi Longyou and laid down the Dingnan Army, compared to the Khitan, it was only an army leader with 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
Why did Yelu Deguang, with his dignity as the emperor of the Khitan Kingdom, become brothers with someone like Zhang Zhao?
Not only did Feng Dao not understand, but Murong Nobunaga and Li Cunhui also didn't understand.
It is obvious that the strength of their Hexi Guiyi Army is less than 20% of that of the Khitans, so why would Yelu Deguang be willing to become brothers with Zhang Zhao?
Zhang Zhao laughed and looked at Wu Luan, who was half a horse's head behind him.
"Judge Wu has lived in Yunzhou for a long time, so he must know the Khitan people better than I and these two sons. Why do you think Yelu Deguang became a brother with a certain person instead of with others?"
Wu Luan also smiled heartily, and spent more than eight months worried, spending every day worrying that the Khitan would break the city or be killed and sell the city.
There are now 4,000 Datong troops and 14,000 family members, plus more than 9,000 Yunzhou people who are willing to follow them. All of them will be arranged by Zhang Zhao to go to Xiazhou.
He Wu Luan got the official position of governor of Xiazhou, Shao Jingzhi, the commander of Datong army, got the official position of deputy commander-in-chief of Datong town of Guiyi army.
The rest of the officers and soldiers have been promoted or rewarded, and the people have been given land and houses, so they feel very happy.
"Reporting back to the king, in my opinion, apart from the majestic appearance of the king, which made Na Yelu Deguang feel similar to himself, it must be due to the tens of thousands of cavalry under the king's command.
Although the Khitan people were a people of fishing and hunting, after they became prosperous, they absorbed a large number of customs from the grassland people.
The Northland is wide and deep, and is more open than the countless castles in the Han Dynasty, so it is more suitable for cavalry operations.
Nowadays in the Central Plains, whether it is the emperor or the towns there, or the Meng Shu, Ma Chu, and Southern Tang in the south, all are dominated by infantry.
If you fight with the Khitan, if you win, you will not be able to pursue and kill them, but if you lose, the entire army will often be unprotected.
Therefore, although the Khitans could not capture the fortified city and could hardly defeat the imperial army, they were not afraid of them.
Because whether to fight or to go was entirely up to the Khitan people's choice. Although Hebei also had cavalry, they had no advantage over the Khitan people in terms of riding skills or numbers, and could not change this situation.
On the other hand, Your Majesty, although there are only 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers, Hexi's specialty is fine horses, which are taller and stronger than those of Khitan.
In Hexi, the custom of Longyou is heavy on cavalry and shooting, Xiliang cavalry is famous all over the world, and even Hexi infantry can mount their horses to fight.
The Guiyi army came and went like the wind, just like the Khitan people. If they had an enmity with the king, the Khitan people would always worry about being raided. Yelu Deguang was even more afraid that the king would become the humerus of the court.
If one or two holy kings emerge from the Central Plains, they will use the Imperial Guards as heavy armored infantry and the Hexi horses as cavalry.
It went all the way out of Hebei and went up to Youzhou, all the way out of Shuozhou, and went north to Yunzhou from Daizhou, and then to the east of Hexi Damadong to send out the Zhenwu Army and the Tiande Army.
As for the Khitan people, they only had 200,000 soldiers in their empire. How could they withstand the killings? Not even the Huns or the Turks in the past could!
Therefore, the leader of the Khitan Kingdom would rather lower his status than stabilize the king.
Without the king in Hexi, Shuofang's cavalry support, an eternal emperor like Emperor Taizong Wen of the previous dynasty, or a few peerless generals like Wei Huo, the Central Plains alone wanted to drive the Khitans north of Yanyun.
Disaster!"
"Hahaha!" Zhang Zhao smiled even more happily.
"Judge Wu really has a long-term vision. Yelu Deguang can recognize me, the little king of Hexi, as his brother, but he is afraid that I will be attracted by the imperial court.
If the imperial court has great righteousness and can win over the hearts of the warriors in Longyou, Hexi Province, why should the Khitans worry about injustice?
It's a pity that they are either greedy for profit, or they are just like dogs, or they are groveling, and none of them is a true master!"
Zhang Zhao knew that his analysis was correct. Historically, even during the Northern Expedition during the Northern Song Dynasty, if there were Liangzhou horses, tens of thousands of Shuofang's elite cavalry would assist.
No matter how much Brother Zhao pulled his crotch, he could still beat Xiao Chuo to the point where he knelt down and begged for mercy.
Wu Luan suddenly froze on his horse. He looked at Zhang Zhao intently, and an unstoppable thought crazily came to his mind.
He holds the twenty-eight states of Hexi, Longyou, Lingwu, and Xia Sui, and has tens of thousands of cavalry under his command. He is capable of subduing brave men, is also tolerant and kind, treats scribes favorably, and is good at writing poetry.
Is such a person a true master?
This chapter has been completed!