There are many riders and shooting in Youzhou, and they are rampant in heavy hair. Once they serve the generals, they are famous for their entry and exit. They hunt autumn grass and shout at each other's bows.

——"Miscellaneous Songs·Five Songs of Jimen" Gao Shi (Tang Dynasty)

...

Bai Fu transferred generals such as Tiehai into his command from Zuo Yingwu's army, and led his army to the Jianghuai River and rushed to the Yangtze River.

Along the way, the villages were deserted wherever the army passed, and there were broken walls everywhere. The fertile mulberry fields in the Jianghuai area in the past, the fish ponds turned into scorched earth, and the wreckage of the roadside was no one buried.

The soldiers gritted their teeth and were very angry, wishing they could arrive at the battlefield in one day, sweep the Jianghuai River and put down the enemy.

Bai Fu's face turned pale and he remained silent all the way, and a trace of cold light appeared in his eyes from time to time.

In a day, Bai Fu arrived in the Jianghuai River and met with Anxi Beiting thirty miles outside Guangling City (now Yangzhou City).

The generals of Anxi, such as Iron Hammer, Lone Wolf, Yuchi Cavalry, Lifei Fortress, Tang Kui, Yue Huzhu, Pei Pokong, etc., were particularly happy.

After some greetings, Bai Fu was promoted to the tent and held a pre-military meeting.

Bai Fu asked, "Yuchi, I heard that Tian Shengong went to Shouzhou to pick up Deng Jingshan, the governor of Huainan East Road, and Xing Yanen, the military commander, returned to Guangling.

Why don’t you stationed in Guangling City? After many days of march, your supplies will be almost exhausted, right?”

Yuchi Cavalry cursed: "Tian Shengong, the bird man, is not in Guangling City, but he lets his confidant Chen Wei, the deputy envoy of Pinglu Army, occupy Guangling City, and finds various reasons to shirk our army, just to prevent our army from entering."

Bai Fu raised his eyebrows and said, "Let's hear it."

Yuchi Cavalry pulled Tang Kui's sleeve beside him and said, "Old Tang, you are good at eloquence, tell the general."

The chief of the marching Sima Tang Kui bowed and smiled and said, "Don't rush to talk about Guangling City, I will tell you the current situation of Jianghuai to all the generals."

Tang Kui pointed to the map to introduce the current situation in Jianghuai. After Liu Zhan rebelled, the people of Jianghuai suffered a catastrophe, and the situation was much worse than expected.

However, it was not Liu Zhan who poisoned the people of Jianghuai, but Pinglu Army led by Tian Shengong.

...

Liu Zhan divided his troops to compete for the land, and he was invincible in the battle, and the Jianghuai River was in chaos.

During the rebels rampant in the Jianghuai River, the county magistrates from all over the Yangtze River and Huai River gave up their duties and rushed to escape. Generals at all levels of the Jianghuai Tang Army seemed like frightened birds, with almost no resistance.

After the defeat of the Huainan East Jiedushi Deng Jingshan, the military commander Xing Yanen, fled to Shouzhou. After discussing, the two felt that the morale of the Tang army in Jianghuai was sluggish and dispersed, and could not rely on the support of the Tang army north of the Yellow River.

At this time, Tian Shengong, the military envoy of Pinglu, led 5,000 elite troops under his command, and was stationed in Rencheng (JN City, SD Province).

The two sent envoys to report to the court, asking to mobilize Tian Shengong to help.

Suzong had another task to Pinglu Army and did not agree to flatten the Lu Army to reinforce.

The military supervisor Xing Yanen claimed to be the favor of Emperor Suzong. Before the imperial court issued an order, he arbitrarily asked Tian Shengong for help from Pinglu soldiers and horses, and solemnly promised: On the day when Huainan (south of the Huaihe River), the gold, silver, jade and silk were allowed to be disposed of by Tian Shengong, and the beautiful women of Jianghuai were allowed to be raped and plundered by Pinglu army.

When he heard that there were gold and silk and beautiful women, Tian Shengong and his men immediately had their eyes shining. Tian Shengong then went south to fight against Liu Zhan, and entered Pengcheng (now XZ City, Jiangsu) at the end of December.

Liu Zhan felt a little scared when he learned that the Pinglu army had led his troops south.

Liu Zhan has dealt with Tian Shengong and knows this person quite well. This person has always been brave and cannot be compared with Li Yi and Deng Jingshan's wine bags.

In the late Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong, Tian Shengong was originally a county history. After the Anshi Rebellion, Tian Shengong defected to Dong Qin, the general of Pinglu Army, to capture Cang, De, and Xiangzhou, and resisted the rebels.

After that, Tian Shengong was ordered to defend Chenliu, and the rebels came to attack. Tian Shengong was defeated by few soldiers and was forced to surrender to Shi Siming.

Shi Siming asked Tian Shengong to lead his troops south to capture Jianghuai.

Seeing that Shi Siming was dragged in Gyeonggi Province by Li Guangbi, he had no time to look east. Tian Shengong took the opportunity to lead his troops to surrender to the court, attacked and killed Nan Dexin, and defeated Liu Congjian's army.

After the army of Nan Dexin and Liu Congjian was incorporated, Tian Shengong's strength increased greatly and he was named the Minister of Rites by the court.

In short, Tian Shengong has been on the battlefield for many years, has a bizarre and changeable temperament and has rich combat experience. His subordinates were once elite rebels and are definitely a difficult opponent.

...

Liu Zhan did not dare to be careless and immediately led 8,000 main forces of Songzhou soldiers to the north to meet the enemy.

Liu Zhan ordered two thousand elite troops to form a vanguard army to cross the Huai River and try to ambush Tian Shengong in Duliangshan (now south of Xuyi County, Jiangsu).

Not only did Tian Shengong fail to fall into the trap, he instead used the plan and lured the enemy into the deep.

When the two armies fought, the Panglu soldiers overturned Liu Zhan's Songzhou soldiers. Liu Zhan's vanguard army was quickly defeated.

Seeing that the Pinglu Army's combat power was far above its own side, Liu Zhan decided to preserve his strength and quickly led his troops to retreat to Tianchang (now AH Tianchang City).

In order to avoid being pursued by the Pinglu army in victory, Liu Zhan ordered five hundred elite cavalry to ambush behind a bridge on the Huai River.

Tian Shengong's iron cavalry swept away the remaining clouds and chased them closely, annihilated the troops behind the palace on the Huaihe Bridge in one fell swoop, and then defeated Liu Zhan's main force with the momentum of destroying Gula.

The eight thousand soldiers led by Liu Zhan were wiped out, and only one personal soldier protected Liu Zhan across the Yangtze River and fled south in a hurry.

Tian Shengong's army immediately defeated Chuzhou and Yangzhou.

When Liu Zhan entered Guangling City, he only pursued the Tang army and did not harass the local people.

But when Tian Shengong's Pinglu army entered the city, the people in the city encountered a catastrophe.

After Tian Shengong entered Chuzhou and Yangzhou, he raped and plundered thousands of Hu merchants. After looting the city, he still felt that it was not enough.

Tian Shengong heard that local Hu merchants and wealthy families liked to hide their treasures underground. So he dug three feet into the ground and turned Chuzhou City and Guangling City into the sky.

...

As a senior general of the Tang army, Tian Shengong actually poisoned the people under his jurisdiction. How different is such a beastly army from the rebels?!

Bai Fu's face darkened, and he threw a fire arrow from the coach's desk and shouted: "I ordered Chen Wei to report to me in front of my coach's account!

If I can’t see him before sunset, I will let him not see tomorrow’s sunset!”

The fire-lacquered arrow drew a blood-red arc in the air and fell in front of the tiger-skin blanket with a "clang".

The generals' hearts tightened, knowing that this was the sound of someone's head falling to the ground.
Chapter completed!