Chapter 378: Please enter the ward

Several fast riders rushed through the woods like lightning, crossed the ridges of the fields, and rushed into the bustling Hedong County of Puzhou. Hedong County is located in Chang'an, the capital of the eastern capital Luoyang, and the northern capital Jinyang. Here, the Yellow River canal transport is generally victorious in land and water, and "strike the world's sound", and the strategic position is extremely important. The main forces of the Hedong Army are also distributed here. Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi led the Shuofang army into Hedong. After defeating Shi Siming's Western Route Army here, Li Guangbi led the main force to attack Hebei, while Guo Ziyi stayed in Hedong to train troops, preparing to cooperate with the imperial army to attack Luoyang. As the generals under Guo Ziyi went to various places to recruit soldiers and train troops, they gradually became forces, including Puzhou Changsun Quanxu, the most powerful, with more than 30,000 soldiers under him.

Changsun Quanxu was the legitimate heir of the Changsun family, a prominent family in the early Tang Dynasty. He was about fifty years old, with a rough face and dark face, and was quick and neat. Although he was a child of a noble family, his long-term military career added a kind of military perseverance to his literary and religious style. But like all those who once had a glorious family history, he valued power too much, or the glory of his ancestors gave him too much pressure. Revitalizing the Changsun family became his greatest dream in his life. He could not do the founding hero of his ancestor Changsun Wuji, but the minister of Zhongxing was the target he could see and touch now, and his treasure was pressed on Li Yu.

He was waiting since he sent his daughter to the palace, and his hard work paid off. He finally waited for this day. From the letter from his daughter, he received the emperor's promise. The left prime minister was also the Minister of War, and gave him the title of Prince. He knew that Li Yu did not lie to him, and the right prime minister gave him Li Mi, which he knew.

With a goal, there is motivation. Changsun Quanxu immediately cooperated with Yu Chaoen to win over the Hedong generals. His reason was very simple. Now the Anxi faction is in power. Only by uniting can one have the strength to compete with the Anxi faction. So bypassing Guo Ziyi, the Hedong faction headed by Changsun Quanxu was established.

The fast rider was running on the densely populated street. The pedestrians on the road were so scared that they rolled and crawled to the sides to dodge. This was an emergency military report of the eight hundred miles. The person blocked the road was guilty, and the fast rider rushed to the prefecture government office like a gust of wind. Now the military and political integration are integrated, and the state affairs and military affairs are decided by Changsun Quanxu.

"Report to the general, the imperial army has passed by Shanzhou, and there is still information about Tongguan here!" The sergeant sent two pieces of information.

"I have passed Shanzhou and I am moving very quickly!"

Changsun Quanxu smiled proudly and then opened the information from Tongguan. The smile on his face disappeared instantly. His hands trembled a little. A simple piece of information was opened three times before it could be opened. There was only one sentence on the note: "There are only three thousand defenders in Tongguan, and they are repairing, and the city walls are not complete..."

Changsun Quanxu let out a long sigh. What he was most worried about was Tongguan. If the defenders did not allow him to enter the pass, he had to go to Longyou, which would be delayed in time. Moreover, Tian Zhen, who guarded Longyou, might not let him pass safely. Now there are only 3,000 guards in Tongguan, and God really helped him during the renovation. He seemed to have seen the grand occasion of his army entering Chang'an City, as if he had seen the emperor come to greet him in tears. Changsun Quanxu could no longer control the excitement in his heart, stood up, and shouted: "Hurry! The command to Li Baoyu, Wei Boyu, and Zhang Zhijie... to order them to lead their troops to Puzhou within three days to tell them that it is time for our Hedong Army to be proud!"

Lingbao County, Shanzhou, is the most convenient place to cross the Yellow River north. The river water is gentle and the terrain on both sides is flat, which is conducive to the gathering of the army. Although heavy snow falls, the Yellow River has not frozen yet, but the flow rate is slower. On this day, a large army was quietly returning from the east and stopped thirty miles away from the Yellow River Ferry. Then nearly a hundred scouts were sent out to search for spies on the north bank. This is naturally Li Qing's army. An Qingxu is just a dry bone in the tomb. He can be wiped out in one battle, and even Li Guangbi alone is not worth his efforts to mobilize his troops to engage in any battle. The so-called drunkard's intention is not wine.

At night, Li Qing, surrounded by hundreds of people, immediately stood in front of a hill. The wind passed through the forest with a sharp roar. Hundreds of steps away, the dark river flowed slowly and solemnly. Li Qing silently stared at the river surface. If it became cold like this, the Yellow River would soon freeze. But Li Qing knew that Changsun Quanxu was anxious and he could not wait for a day. From the information he received, Changsun Quanxu's large group of troops were coming towards the north bank of Lingbao.

He raised his eyes to the east and looked far away. Xin Yungao, who had crossed the river from Luoyang, should have arrived. Suddenly, Li Qing felt something. He seemed to have seen something in the dark night sky. "General, it's a fire!" A personal soldier pointed at the distance.

On the other side, Li Qing also saw clearly that there were many more flames on the north bank of the Yellow River, just like the Milky Way on a summer night, stretching for several miles.

"Here, finally!" Li Qing smiled coldly, and he waved his hand gently, "Everyone returns to the camp, and orders the scouts to closely observe the crossing of the river, and report to me at the same time!"

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While waiting for the troops to assemble Puzhou, Changsun Quanxu was also mobilizing a large number of ferries. He was most worried that the renovation of Tongguan would be completed before he arrived, or that Li Qing, who had arrived in Luoyang, would react and increase his troops to Tongguan.

There were 100,000 people from all walks of life in Hedong. This was a loose interest alliance. Everyone had their own ambitions and goals, but one thing was in common, that was to enter the pass and control the court. As for who was the final winner, that was to be the matter in the future. The most urgent task was to take over Tongguan while Guanzhong was empty.

It is not easy for a hundred thousand people to cross the river, but as long as you are well prepared, it can be completed overnight. Changsun Quanxu collected hundreds of civilian ships of all sizes, and the water flow was smooth, so he believed that he could cross the river overnight.

"Cross the river!" Changsun Quanxu pointed to the whip and ordered the army to start crossing the river. The piles of messy torches quickly became smoothed into long dragons.

"General Changsun!" Dozens of cavalry and horses rushed to the front. The first was General Wei Boyu. He fled to Hedong after Geshuhan's defeat. He had more than 10,000 people under his command and had been stationed in Fenzhou. Although he also came with the brigade, he felt that Changsun Quanxu was too impatient in both decisions and marching, which was a bit like Geshuhan at the time. He had not figured out many details and crossed the river in a hurry.

"General Changsun, I suggest it is better to cross the river separately, so that we can take care of each other!"

"Crossing the river separately?" Changsun Quanxu looked at him vigilantly. He suddenly realized that he was a little careless. In name, he was the leader of the alliance, but in fact, whoever enters Guanzhong will have the right to speak. He wants to take the power, but why don't they want to?

Thinking of this, Changsun Quanxu laughed dryly and said, "Soldiers are the most important, and there are only so many ships. If you cross the river separately, wouldn't it take time? General Wei is really worried!"

When Wei Boyu saw that Changsun Quanxu refused to listen, he said anxiously: "But if there is an ambush on the other side and intercept it in the middle, what should we do?"

Changsun Quanxu laughed at the sky. After a while, he shook his head and said with a little sarcastic expression: "I see General Wei was killed by Cui Ganyou. I received information last night that Li Qing's army had arrived in Luoyang and intercepted it in the middle! Who do you think it would be? Cui Ganyou was resurrected from death?"

"Changsun Quanxu!"

Wei Boyu's face turned red, "Don't bully people too much!" He couldn't see clearly in the dark, but he could hear the anger from his anger, "Just go, I will go back to Fenzhou!"

Changsun Quanxu sat on the horse motionless, waiting for him to turn his horse's head before looking at his back and said coldly: "The emperor ordered us to all go to Beijing, but General Wei dared to resist the order and refused to obey it. Could it be that he saw that Hedong is empty and wanted to be the King of Hedong?"

Wei Boyu was shocked all over. After a while, he sighed and said, "I, Wei Boyu, are dedicated to the country. How can I let villains like you be slandered? Since you don't listen to my advice, I will let you cross the river in the end."

After saying that, he quickly disappeared into the fire of the horse's heads. Changsun Quanxu waited for his back to disappear before sneering coldly: "I don't dare to have any intentions!" He turned around, pointed straight to the south, shouting sternly: "Cross the river!"

Teams of soldiers rushed onto the ferry. Several large ships had turned their bows and slowly left the dock. In the dark, only the sound of paddle paddlings were heard. The large ship swayed and headed towards the boundless black fog.

The ship came, and it was not until the east sky showed a hint of blue light that the transport troops gradually came to an end. In the end, those who had not crossed the river were food and supplies. A hundred thousand troops were densely arranged on the river bank. The cold wind was so cold that they were trembling.

Changsun Quanxu found Wei Boyu who had just crossed the river and laughed: "General Wei, 'interception in the middle of the way', who said this?"

Wei Boyuhan looked at him but ignored him. At this moment, some movement came from the other side. The original neat fire suddenly became messy and then extinguished a lot.

Changsun Quanxu was shocked. He rode his horse to the river and looked desperately at the other side, but the fog was deep and nothing could be seen except for the faint fire. He knew in his heart that something must have happened!

‘Is it because the ladder was too heavy that collapsed the big ship? Not like! Not like!’ Seeing that the fire points on the other side were getting fewer and fewer, Changsun Quanxu was anxious, but he couldn’t get the news. Suddenly, a pile of fires lit up on the other side, and the fires soared into the sky, which looked extremely dazzling in the gray fog.

"General Changsun! Get out of the river bank quickly and ambush among us!" Wei Boyu ran over and stomped his feet and shouted: "This is the food and grass that attacked us, but it is really ambushing us!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a scout rushed over and reported loudly: "General, there is a large army two miles away surrounding us, with hundreds of thousands of people. There is no way to go on the east, west and south!"

Changsun Quanxu was stunned. He suddenly realized that Li Qingdong was just a cover, and his real purpose was to deal with him. In this way, the so-called three thousand soldiers in Tongguan, the repair of the city, etc. were just bait, which led to his own deception.

He slowly walked to Wei Boyu and said with shame: "Boyu, I regret not listening to your words, what should I do now?"

"General Changsun, don't worry, things are not as bad as you think." Wei Boyu thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "I know Li Qing would not let us go. I thought he would intercept us halfway through the river, but I didn't expect that he would let us land. This means that he had no intention of destroying us, and probably just wanted to seize our military power. In this way, we have two ways to go."

"Please speak with General Wei!"

"One way is to surrender to him decently. If we hand over the military power, we may be able to get a job, and the other way!" Wei Boyu looked back at the river water covered by fog and sighed, "When I crossed the river just now, I found that some places had a layer of thin ice. If I were lucky, I might be able to freeze the river surface for another two days, so we could cross the river directly."

Changsun Quanxu looked up at the east sky, and a ray of rays of light had already poked his head out. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. How could he build ice before the season arrived? The food and grass were still on the other side. Needless to say, waiting for two days, the soldiers' breakfast was no longer settled today.

At this time, a group of soldiers from afar surrounded by a man and walked quickly. A soldier reported to Changsun Quanxu: "General, the right minister has sent someone to come!"

While speaking, Li Qing's special envoy had already come. He was dressed as a civil servant, about thirty years old, with firm steps and confidence in his eyes. He stepped forward and bowed: "Wei Yingwu, the judge of Xia'anxi Army, met General Changsun!"

Changsun Quanxu had calmed down from the tension, and he bowed and said, "Where is the Prime Minister?"

Wei Yingwu turned around and pointed in the distance and said, "The Prime Minister is in the military camp. I will ask General Changsun to go and talk!"

"This..." Changsun Quanxu hesitated. Logically, Li Qing was the Grand Marshal of the World, and he deserved to be controlled by him, but after crossing the river, he had already torn his face with him. With his ruthlessness, could he still come out of his hands alive? He felt nervous and turned around and secretly looked at Wei Boyu, and cast a look at him for help.

Wei Boyu stepped forward and said, "The Prime Minister has an order, General Changsun should obey it. The last general Wei Boyu is not talented, and he is willing to accompany General Changsun to go!"

Wei Yingwu secretly exclaimed Wei Boyu in his heart. This is a knowledgeable person, decisive and courageous person, much better than the indecisive legitimate son of a noble family. The prime minister ordered them to go to Jin to meet him, just to give them a chance. Is there any possibility of a turnaround? However, Wei Yingwu also admired Li Qing's skills more and more. Without a single soldier, he took the entire Hedong Army into his pocket with just a hike.

"General Wei is too humble, but the Prime Minister's intention is not only General Changsun, but the chief generals of each army are going to see him." He turned back to Changsun Quanxu and said, "Prime Minister asks General Changsun to take the lead and contact the generals to visit him together!"

Seeing that Li Qing was clear about his relationship with the generals, Changsun Quanxu sighed and replied: "Okay! I'll invite them now and go see the prime minister with you!"

Li Qing's camp was just two miles away. In addition to Xin Yungao taking 20,000 troops from Luoyang to cross the Yellow River to capture Sun Quanxu's retreat, Li Qing brought more than 200,000 troops to surround the Hedong Army crossing the river, but he did not intend to destroy them. After all, they were not rebels, and excessive killing would affect his reputation among the people. In fact, he did not need to use force. He was the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and the great marshal of the world's troops. Dayi was on his side. He only had to put enough pressure to conquer the 100,000 troops.

At this moment, Li Qing's big tent was brightly lit. He was leaning against the soft chair and reading a book, waiting for news from Wei Yingwu. Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps came from outside the tent, and then Guo Ziyi's anxious voice was heard, "Tell me quickly, I want to see the prime minister immediately!"

"The Prime Minister has an order, so I will not discuss military affairs tonight!" The personal soldiers coldly rejected him.

Li Qing walked to the tent and smiled and said, "Gen. Guo can be special, please invite him in!"

Even if he didn't come, Li Qing would send someone to invite him. Guo Ziyi was the deputy commander of the Eastern Expedition. In fact, except for his more than 20,000 people, Li Qing's army could not command at all. Every day, he only marched with the army without saying a word. But when he arrived in Luoyang, the army suddenly turned around and returned, which made him very confused. What was going on? No one told him, and he suddenly realized it until he learned that the Hedong army crossed the river.

Guo Ziyi hurried into the big tent and said, "It was born with the same roots, why not be too anxious to fight each other! Can the prime minister really not tolerate a hundred thousand men in Hedong?"

"Gen. Guo, don't be excited, please sit down and talk!"

Li Qing smiled and let Guo Ziyi into the tent, and brought a chair to ask him to sit down. Seeing that his smile was calm, Guo Ziyi gradually calmed down. He sighed and said, "I hope the Prime Minister can give me a face and let the Hedong Army go!"

Li Qing looked at Guo Ziyi silently and suddenly said, "Do you know why I want to go east in person?"

Guo Ziyi did not answer immediately. When he attacked Luoyang, he seized his military power and then used the battle of Xiangzhou to seize Li Guangbi's military power. Can't you guess? Although I thought so, there was no expression on my face. I just smiled faintly and said, "I have taken ninety-nine steps to calm An Lushan's rebellion in one hundred steps. The last step of the prime minister will naturally supervise the battle himself. This is a safe way, and Ziyi also agrees very much."

Li Qing walked a few steps behind his back and said slowly: "In fact, it is not exactly the case. When the new emperor was appointed as the crown prince of Chu as the emperor and was preparing to be the crown prince. As a result, thirty-three princes, the princes jointly opposed it, and hundreds of ministers protested. Now I am supported by me. Although everyone dare not speak out under the strong, people are actually dissatisfied! At the beginning of the An Lushan rebellion, the former emperor allowed local officials to privately invest in young and strong people to resist the rebels' going south. But once the rebellion is quelled, it should be released to Ma Nanshan and rest.

, Are these local officials who hold military power willing to be obedient? I am worried that they will use the excuse of the new emperor's incorrect position to support local royal families, and then merge and fight with each other. The court is out of reach. In this way, the chaos in the late Han Dynasty will reappear, which will be a disaster for my Tang Dynasty. Perhaps the old general Guo said that I was exaggerated. Not to mention the distant Tian Shengong and others, just talk about the subordinate generals of these veteran generals in Hedong. If the old general goes to Hedong alone, will they still be willing to hand over the military power to the veteran general?"

Speaking of this, Li Qing smiled and said, "If the conflict between the court and them intensified, what kind of Li Lushan and Changsun Lushan will be born again? How should General Guo protect himself?"

Guo Ziyi was a little restless. He knew what Li Qing meant. When he went south to attack Luoyang, Changsun Quanxu and Zhang Zhijie were his generals and refused to follow him. Li Baoyu and Wei Boyu, who later relied on him, spent their money and food to recruit soldiers. Now with the example of Li Qing, how could they easily hand over the soldiers? If they had the troops to stand up, they would be like rebellion. They were the chief general of Hedong, and the crime of not being able to be investigated will be confirmed.

Guo Ziyi held military power in history and had been unable to fall for several dynasties. In the end, he died. This was because he was sleek and good at judging the situation. When the court was in a critical moment, he came out to turn the tide. Once the chaos subsided, he immediately handed over power and went home, so he was deeply trusted by the emperor. Therefore, Li Yu also laughed it off and didn't care. Although the current situation made him no longer have the opportunity to stand out, his mind did not change.

At this moment, a personal soldier rushed in outside the door and reported, "General, General Wei, General Changsun Quanxu and others were brought."

Li Qing glanced back at Guo Ziyi, smiled faintly and said, "Please advise your subordinates! If they are willing to follow me to the battle in Xiangzhou, I will not blame you and reward you according to your merits, but if they refuse..."

Speaking of this, Li Qing's eyes suddenly became as cold as a knife. He said coldly: "Then I will punish their nine clans for the crime of rebellion, and no one of the 100,000 Hedong Army will be left!"
Chapter completed!