Chapter 772 Jianghuai Rebellion

A man wearing a hat of red dust comes to the north of Weidu's house. The city is full of scenery, separated by deserted buildings.

Watching Feihong, the scenery disappears into the sky. The mountains are cut off, there are thousands of clouds, and there is snow in the north and south of the Yangtze River.

——"Dian Jiang Lip·Composed immediately on October 2nd" Gong Zizhen (Qing Dynasty)

…

With smoke billowing and swords flying everywhere, war is a disaster for all the people who keep their peace. However, some originally unknown and unruly people in the rivers and lakes, because of the Anshi Rebellion, walked from the green forest into the military and became local officials.

Li Xian, deputy envoy of Huaixi Jiedu and censor Zhongcheng, and Liu Zhan, deputy envoy of Huaixi Jiedu and governor of Songzhou, are such two people.

At the beginning of the An Lushan Rebellion, the main force of the Tang Army in Henan Province - the Chenliu Tang Army under the command of Henan Jiedushi Zhang Jieran, and the army recruited by Feng Changqing quickly collapsed. The Tang Army who fought against the rebels in the early days of the Anshi Rebellion were almost all locals in Henan Province

The state and county armies or rebel armies. The generals leading these armies are basically local figures in Henan Province, such as Liu Zhan, Xu Shuji, Shang Heng, etc. These generals in Henan Province gradually expanded their territory and military strength during the war.

It became the main force for the Tang army to fight against the rebels in Henan Road.

Due to their military exploits, Li Xian and Liu Zhan were quickly promoted from a lieutenant to a high official in the imperial court.

Li Xian was promoted to deputy envoy of Huaixi Jiedu because he defeated Yong Wang Li Lin's rebel army. Liu Zhan's promotion was even faster.

Before the Anshi Rebellion, Liu Zhan only joined the army as Chen Liu. During the war, Liu Zhan was promoted to the governor of Ruzhou due to his participation in countering the rebellion. In the second year of Qianyuan (759), Liu Zhan was promoted again because of his strict control of the army.

He was the governor of Huazhou, moved to Songzhou, and served as the deputy envoy of Huaixi Jiedu.

Although you are a senior general of the Tang Army, the habits of the two men have not changed at all. Li Mian is corrupt, perverts the law, and is vicious and cruel; Liu Zhan is arrogant and willful.

The two had a close personal relationship, an offensive and defensive alliance, and supported each other. All the successive Huaixi Jiedushi envoys hated these two unruly, arrogant and rude guys, but there was nothing they could do about them. After all, the camp was made of iron and the Jiedushi of flowing water was unstoppable.

Therefore, the real military power is in the hands of these two local snakes.

In the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, Huaixi transferred another military envoy to Huaixi. This new military governor of Huaixi named Wang Zhongsheng was different from the previous ones and was not a good person.

In April of the summer of the second year of Zhide (757), Wang Zhongsheng followed Guo Ziyi, together with Pugu Huaien, Hun Shizhi, Li Ruoyou and other generals, set up an ambush at Baiquliu Yunqiao in Sanyuan County, and annihilated the rebel general Li Guiren.

The five thousand elite rebel cavalrymen became famous and came into Suzong's sight.

After Wang Zhongsheng took office, Xing Yanen, the eunuch who oversaw the army, observed his actions and found that this man was a ruthless master, so he took the initiative to make friends with Wang Zhongsheng. Together, the two of them overthrew Li Mian and Liu Zhan, and firmly held the military power in Huaixi.

With the support of Xing Yanen, Wang Zhongsheng requested an imperial edict to have Li Mian engaged in military law for the crime of "corruption, violence and lawlessness".

After getting rid of Li Mian, Wang Zhongsheng targeted Liu Zhan again.

Under Xing Yanen's secret planning, in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, a nursery rhyme spread widely in Huaixi: "Rising from the east with a golden sword in hand, Liu will be the king of the world."

Xing Yanen suggested using this prophecy to deal with the unruly and domineering Liu Zhan.

Wang Zhongsheng understood this and immediately attached this rumor to Liu Zhan and reported to the court: "Liu Zhan has always had ulterior motives and evil intentions, and the surname "Liu" has fulfilled the rumor and prophecy. He should be eradicated as soon as possible to avoid future troubles."

In order to make Liu Zhan's case a solid case, Wang Zhongsheng implored Xing Yanen, the eunuch who was overseeing the army, to come to the court to pay homage.

After Xing Yanen returned to Beijing, he advised Suzong, saying: "Liu Zhan and Li Mian were originally a gang. Now that Li Mian has been executed, Liu Zhan is suspicious and uneasy. If he is not eliminated by taking advantage of the situation, he may cause chaos."

However, Liu Zhan has a large number of troops, so it is best to use tactics to get rid of them. It is better to promote Liu Zhan to the Jianghuai capital and let him succeed the original capital Li Long. When he hands over his military power and goes to Guangling to take up his post, he will be killed on the way.

His capture. This plan can be accomplished with only a few brave soldiers."

Emperor Suzong was deeply convinced and ordered Liu Zhan to be the governor of Jianghuai Province (that is, one person concurrently serves as the governor of Huainan East, Jiangnan West, and Zhejiang Province). At the same time, he issued a secret edict to appoint Li Long, the former governor of Jianghuai Province, and the former governor of Huainan East Province.

Du envoy Deng Jingshan teamed up to get rid of Liu Zhan.

Xing Yanen thought that this plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain was foolproof, but he did not expect that painting a tiger could not turn against a dog. This plan actually triggered a rebellion that swept across Jianghuai!

When Xing Yanen came to Songzhou with the edict to announce the decree, Liu Zhan was flattered and thanked Long'en. He also planned to hold a banquet that night to entertain the holy envoy.

Before the dinner, Liu Zhan's general Zhang Jingchao approached Liu Zhan.

Zhang Jingchao was originally the Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty. Because he was quite strategic, he was hired by Liu Zhan with a large sum of money on his way back to the country and was persuaded to stay in the army.

Zhang Jingchao said to Liu Zhan: "General, after General Li Xian was killed, Wang Zhongsheng cannot tolerate you even more, and will definitely take the opportunity to get rid of you.

Ordinarily, the imperial court will definitely reduce your military power, and even take your life. How could this decree not be demoted but promoted instead, allowing you to serve as the envoy of the three military governors?

The general inquired privately and found out that Xing Yanen and Wang Zhongsheng were very close, so I'm afraid there was something fishy about this matter.

As the saying goes, if something goes wrong, there will be a monster, and the general must be on guard against it."

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured on his head, freezing to the bone. Liu Zhan suddenly understood.

Liu Zhan's face showed murderous intent, and he made a beheading gesture, and said grimly: "He is unkind and unjust to me. Since the emperor has designed to harm me, I, Liu, am not a vegetarian. I cannot be like Li Xian and be captured without mercy.

Just pull the neck and kill.

If we do it tonight, the worst possible outcome is that the fish will die and the net will be broken!"

Zhang Jingchao waved his hand and said with a smile: General, please be patient and don't be impatient. The general will have a plan at the end. Not only can the general be safe and sound, but he can also use his plan as he wishes..."

…

That night, Liu Zhan held a banquet in the big tent and hosted a grand banquet for Xing Yanen and his party.

After three rounds of drinking, all the generals in the tent were dancing and making all kinds of ugly appearances.

Liu Zhan stood up and walked to Xing Yanen to toast.

Liu Zhan said: "My lord, I came from a humble background. Since joining the army in Chenliu County, I have been promoted to governor in just a few years. It can be said that I have risen through the ranks and become rich and powerful all of a sudden.

Jianghuai is the capital city of the Tang Dynasty. The position of Governor of Jianghuai is very important and has always been held by important officials in the court. I have no extraordinary military achievements, nor am I a member of the royal family or a noble family. I have never even met Your Majesty.

To suddenly receive such favor from His Majesty, I am really flattered and even more incredible. Could it be..."

Speaking of this, Liu Zhan looked slyly into Xing Yanen's eyes and said, "Is there a treacherous villain who is trying to sow discord and set a trap for Liu?"

When talking about the excitement, Liu Zhan couldn't help but shed tears.

"It seems that Liu Zhan has become suspicious."

Considering the importance of Jianghuai, His Majesty promoted you unexpectedly. Unexpectedly, it aroused your suspicion. Why is this?"

Liu Zhan was silent and suddenly said: "If there is no villain who framed me, can I get the seal talisman from Jianghuai Capital before taking office?"

Xing Yanen didn't expect Liu Zhan to be so skillful. In his haste, he didn't have time to think carefully and replied: "Of course."

The next day, in order to eliminate Liu Zhan's suspicion, Xing Yanen had to fly to Guangling (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu), conspired with Li Ao, and then took the seal talisman and handed it to Liu Zhan.

Xing Yanen was smart enough to think that he could stabilize Liu Zhan now, but a clever and pampered eunuch like him was no match for Liu Zhan on the battlefield.

The reason why Liu Zhan did not set up a Hongmen Banquet and kill Xing Yaneng on the spot was because he wanted to use his plan to get the seal of Jianghuai Dutong, so as to mobilize troops from the east of Huainan, west of Jiangnan, and west of Zhejiang to increase the bargaining chips for rebellion.

After Liu Zhan received the seal and talisman, he pretended to go to Suzong to express his gratitude.

Then, as the envoy of the three Jianghuai provinces, Liu Zhan immediately issued appointment certificates to his cronies all over Jianghuai and entrusted them with important positions.

At the same time, Liu Zhan ordered the officials of the Jianghuai and Jianghuai Provinces to send envoys as soon as possible to report to Songzhou with books and maps of the county.

After a period of intense and careful planning, in early November of the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, Liu Zhan led 7,000 direct soldiers and horses, surrounded by envoys from various states and counties, and marched toward Guangling in a mighty manner.

This kicked off the "Jianghuai Rebellion".
Chapter completed!